Federal officials to take over inspections when troubled Boar’s Head plant reopens

Federal inspectors will assume direct oversight of a troubled Boar’s Head deli meat plant when it reopens after last year’s deadly listeria outbreak, U.S. Agriculture Department officials said.

The Jarratt, Virginia, factory is set to resume operations in the coming months. It will face at least 90 days of heightened monitoring and inspections by federal Food Safety and Inspection Service officials. Previously, inspections were conducted by state officials who operated on behalf of the agency.

The change aims to “ensure the establishment consistently and effectively implements its corrected food safety plans,” USDA officials said in a statement. It calls for stricter enforcement if lapses occur.

The plant was shuttered nearly a year ago when listeria-tainted liverwurst caused the outbreak that killed 10 people, sickened dozens and forced a recall of more than 7 million pounds of deli products. USDA officials lifted the plant’s suspension in July.

In the years before the outbreak, state inspectors documented numerous problems at the plant, including mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment, records showed. They were operating under a cooperative agreement, the Talmadge-Aiken program, that allows state inspectors to conduct federal inspections.

The shift to direct federal oversight underscores the severity of the problems at the Boar’s Head plant, said Sandra Eskin, a former USDA official who now heads STOP Foodborne Illness, a consumer advocacy group. It raises concerns about communication between state and federal officials when problems occur, she added.

“Given its history, it’s particularly important that there be robust oversight of that plant,” Eskin said.

Boar’s Head officials said in a statement that they have worked with state and federal regulators “to ensure the successful and safe reopening of the Jarratt facility.”

The company said it has boosted food safety practices in Jarratt and other sites aimed at reducing or eliminating listeria in finished products.

The company has declined to comment on documents obtained by The Associated Press that showed that sanitation problems persist at other Boar’s Head sites in three states.

Between January and July, inspectors in Arkansas, Indiana and a second site in Virginia reported problems that include instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, drains blocked with meat products, beaded condensation on ceilings and floors, overflowing trash cans and staff who didn’t wear protective hairnets and plastic aprons or wash their hands.

Officials at the 120-year-old company based in Sarasota, Florida, hired a chief food safety officer in May. It also brought in a panel of experts, including Mindy Brashears, a food safety expert nominated by President Donald Trump for a second term as the USDA’s undersecretary for food safety.

Brashears, who now directs a food safety center at Texas Tech University, did not respond to requests for comment about Boar’s Head. An automatic email reply said she was traveling out of the country until next week.