Check your fridges! Boar’s Head lunch meat recall linked to 9 deaths so far

On August 28, 2024, The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an updated Food Safety Alert asking people to purge their refrigerators of multiple Boar’s Head products that are linked to a listeria outbreak in multiple U.S. states.

This guidance comes on the heels of an investigation that began July 25. At that time, twelve states were affected and two people had already died. Boar’s Head tracked the outbreak to their Strassburger Brand Liverwust and subsequently recalled that and nine other products that were produced on the same line and on the same day.

Four days later, the brand confirmed the link between the liverwurst and the Listeria outbreak and voluntarily recalled every item produced at the same time as the liverwurst—about 7 million pounds of meat.

Sadly, this recall hasn’t been able to stop the outbreak. There have been 57 cases of listeria associated with the outbreak so far, all requiring hospitalization. Today, the CDC announced the outbreak has spread to five new states, bringing the total to 18. Nine people have died across Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina (2), Tennessee, and Virginia.

What products are recalled?

The CDC is asking everyone to check their fridges for certain meats, some of which has expiration dates stretching into October. Products labeled “Boar’s Head Strassburger Brand Liverwurst MADE IN VIRGINIA” with sell-by dates that range from July 25 to August 30 are the primary culprits, but there are dozens more Boar’s Head products being recalled, as well.

On their website, the CDC states, “Everyone should check their homes for any remaining recalled Boar’s Head products since they can have long a shelf-life. 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.” You can find a full list of all products in the recall here.

What is listeria?

Listeria is a die-hard germ that can survive on food or surfaces even when refrigerated or frozen. The infection causes a foodborne bacterial illness that is especially dangerous for older people, people with weakened immune systems, or pregnant women. It can take up to 10 weeks to develop symptoms after being infected. Treatment involves strong antibiotics.

Next steps

Boar’s Head has a complete list of products that were not affected by the listeria outbreak on their website. All of the recalled items have currently been taken off store shelves, and Boar’s head products that are currently available are not affected by the recall.

So, it’s time to clean out those fridges! The CDC recommends that you throw away any of the products listed above that were purchased before July 31, 2024, or return them to the store where you bought them for a refund. You should also clean any surface the products might have touched with a good quality multi-surface cleanser.