The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is declining to answer questions about the inspectors and test results involved in the Boar’s Head deli meat outbreak that killed nine people.
The Listeria outbreak has sickened at least 57 people in 18 states. All the patients were so ill that they had to be hospitalized. Laboratory tests have shown that Boar’s Head meats are contaminated with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes.
Boar’s Head has recalled more than 7 million pounds of processed meats in response to the outbreak. There are concerns that consumers may still have some of the recalled products in their homes because their expiration dates extend into October.
Food safety news asked the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to release the names of the inspectors and qualifications of FSIS’s Virginia Contracted employees to conduct inspections at the Boar’s Head manufacturing plant in Virginia.
We also asked FSIS for information on how often inspectors were at the Boar’s Head plant in Virginia and to whom they report.
The FSIS responded in its entirety with the following statement:
“FSIS’s investigation into this outbreak is ongoing. One death from foodborne illness is one too many, and we take this public health issue very seriously. The agency has suspended inspections at the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Virginia, meaning the plant will remain closed until and unless we are confident they can produce safe food. In addition to taking a holistic look at Boar’s Head facilities across the country, our investigation will also include a top-to-bottom assessment to determine what factors contributed to the outbreak at this specific facility, what needs to be improved and whether There are lessons learned that can be applied more broadly to turnkey meat and poultry facilities.”
This week The New York Times published a news story detailing how the Boar’s Head manufacturing plant in Virginia was inspected as early as two years ago and received comments about an “imminent threat” from inspectors.
Food safety news also asked the following questions to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, but received no response:
· Who assesses the inspections?
· How quickly are reports written and submitted after inspections?
· Who manages the corrective action procedures? Is this done by the Virginia office, or the federal FSIS, or both?
· Are the corrective actions resolved through an objective and verified process?
· Did the factory send photos or document the corrective actions and have an inspector or their boss sign off on it?
· Where is the inspection data managed, and is the data managed so that FSIS can see food safety risks and trends?
· Is there a time stamp on the report data?
· Is it possible to track corrective actions within the system?
· Is there a unique identifier for who approves reports, corrective actions, etc.?
Food safety news also asked the USDA to provide information on testing and corrective actions at the plant, but received no response.
· Where are the test results stored?
· Who has access to it?
· Who makes decisions about corrective actions?
· Where are the results of corrective actions?
· Is this data easy to analyze for food safety risks and trends?
· Can FSIS close a facility for being unsanitary? Does the State of Virginia-contracted FSIS have the authority to close a facility for being unsanitary?
· If so, why wasn’t this factory closed sooner? Wasn’t it “unsanitary enough”? If this isn’t bad enough to close, what is?
· If not, who has the authority to close a factory?
· What is the process for getting the information to that department?
· Why hasn’t this been done for this Boar’s Head branch?
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