10 deaths tied to listeria, Boar’s Head recall

Two more illnesses and one more death have been reported due to the nationwide listeria outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked to recalled Boar’s Head deli meats.
The agency announced an update on Wednesday that “as of September 23, a total of 59 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria have been reported from 19 states.”
“One person got sick during their pregnancy and remained pregnant after recovering. Ten deaths have been reported, including one in Illinois, one in New Jersey, one in New York, one in Virginia, one in Florida, one in Tennessee, one in New Mexico, two in South Carolina, and as of this update, one additional death in New York,” the CDC shared.
The CDC announced 14 more illnesses have been reported since its previous update earlier this month, bringing the total up to 57 across 18 states, which is now the largest listeriosis outbreak of its kind in the U.S. since 2011, which was then linked to cantaloupe.
All 57 people have been hospitalized in the latest outbreak, the agency confirmed, adding that six new deaths include one from Florida, one from Tennessee, one from New Mexico, one from New York and two from South Carolina.
Last month, after a Boar’s Head liverwurst sample tested positive for the outbreak strain of listeria monocytogenes, the food manufacturer issued a recall of all items produced at its Virginia-based facilities and paused operations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Inspectors for the agency detailed dozens of regulatory violations at the plant in its newly released records, the USDA said, including black mold, mildew, cobwebs and insects which were repeatedly found throughout the site.
The recall, which was expanded from its initial notice on July 26, includes approximately 7 million pounds of 71 products produced between May 10, 2024, and July 29, 2024, under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names.
The items include ready-to-eat meats and poultry products intended for slicing at retail delis, plus some packaged items.
Click here for the full product list and here for label information.
The affected products were distributed nationwide and exported to the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama, according to the agency.
“Everyone should check their homes for any remaining recalled Boar’s Head products since they can have long a shelf-life,” the CDC urged. “Look for ‘EST. 12612’ or ‘P-12612’ inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels. Some of the products have sell by dates into October 2024.”
“Food safety is our top priority, and we express our deepest sympathies for the affected families,” Boar’s Head said in an earlier statement. “As soon as we learned that our liverwurst was linked to the outbreak, we voluntarily expanded our recall, as a precautionary measure, to include all other products made at the same facility. We are conducting a full review of processes and procedures to ensure we consistently meet the highest standards of safety and quality.”
Listeria is a bacteria that according to the CDC can remain on surfaces such as meat slicers, and even refrigerated foods.
Listeria can cause severe illness “when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body” after a person consumes contaminated food, per the CDC. Those at higher risk include pregnant people, those aged 65 or older, or anyone who has a weakened immune system, the CDC says.
“If you are pregnant, it can cause pregnancy loss, premature birth, or a life-threatening infection in your newborn,” the CDC states on its website. “Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.”
According to the CDC, anyone infected with listeria may experience “mild food poisoning symptoms” such as diarrhea or fever, and many recover without antibiotic treatment.
An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC.
An earlier version of this story was originally published on August 29, 2024 and has been updated with a tenth death.