(NewsNation) — The listeria-caused recall of Boar’s Head deli meats produced at a now-closed plant in Virginia involved more than seven million pounds of products distributed in 19 states. But it’s still easy to find its turkey, ham, beef charcuterie and other items on sale around the nation.
While the plant in Jarratt, Virginia was identified as the source of the listeria outbreak that has led to about 60 hospitalizations and ten deaths, Boar’s Head operates eight other plants.
Boar’s Head says it closed the Jarratt plant “indefinitely,” putting about 500 out of work in a town with a population of fewer than 700.
“It pains us to impact the livelihoods of hundreds of hard-working employees. We do not take lightly our responsibility as one of the area’s largest employers,” Boar’s Head wrote in a statement on its website. “But, under these circumstances, we feel that a plant closure is the most prudent course.”
The company has also stopped making liverwurst, the meat produced in Jarratt blamed for the listeria outbreak.
A former sanitation manager at the Jarratt plant told NewsNation affiliate WRIC that long-time workers at the plant were not keeping up with modern sanitation guidelines.
“One thing I did find out about Boar’s Head is they were just not open to new ideas,” Terrance Boyce said. “Just not open at all.”
Boyce was hired in January 2023, as the plant’s first on-site manager for sanitation. He was fired eight months later.