A 10th person has died in the listeria outbreak that shuttered a Boar’s Head deli meat plant, federal health officials said Wednesday.
At least 59 people in 19 states have been sickened by the bacteria first detected in liverwurst made at the Jarratt, Virginia, plant. Illnesses were reported between late May and late August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All of those who fell ill were hospitalized.
The latest fatality was reported in New York, bringing the total deaths to two each in New York and South Carolina and one each in Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and New Mexico.
The bacteria that causes Listeria is extremely resilient and can survive on surfaces for a long time. There’s one known case of it persisting for 10 years in a meat processing plant. It can survive in cold temperatures and even in salty and acidic environments.
That means it could still be stuck to deli slicers, deli counters, deli fridges, people’s fridges, people’s counters, etc. And it spreads through not just Boar’s Head products directly, but through every product that came in contact with any equipment that came in contact with Boar’s Head products.
This needed more than just a recall. It needed education for consumers and decontamination rules and instructions for delis and grocery stores, followed by thorough surface testing.
I lucked out - the deli I use doesn’t sell any dirty Boar’s Head slop. If they did, I’d probably drop them permanently.