Fresh listeria fears as expert issues chilling warning about Boar’s Head meat products

More Americans are likely to get sick from the listeria-contaminated Boar’s Head products which have already killed nine people this summer, a lawyer has warned.

Seattle-based food safety attorney Bill Marler said the deadly disease has an incubation period of two months, meaning some customers who consumed tainted deli products may not yet have developed the illness.

Nine people have died across 18 states and 57 have needed hospital treatment after millions of spoiled products from the grocery store mainstay triggered America’s biggest listeria outbreak in over a decade in July. 

Boar’s Head began recalling meats on July 26, and it expanded the list again in early August. It has since emerged that the Virginia plant at the center of the outbreak has been crawling with black mold, mildew and insects. 

‘It’s crazy. Not only was this plant better at producing listeria than it was at producing meat, but also, what were the inspectors doing?’ Marler told USA TODAY. 

More Americans are likely to get sick from the listeria-contaminated Boar’s Head products which have already killed nine people this summer, a lawyer has warned

Pictured above is the plant in Jarratt, Virginia, at the center of the Listeria outbreak

Reports from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service at the Jarratt plant revealed that inspectors noted a trail of ants crawling up the walls, mold and mildew on surfaces, and ‘ample blood’ covering the floor along with a ‘rancid smell’. 

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler has warned more people are likely to get sick from the Boar’s Head listeria outbreak

‘This is the worst set of inspection reports I have ever seen,’ Marler said.

The report revealed that the USDA noted 69 violations over the past year at the $1 billion company’s Virginia plant. 

Boar’s Head has released a list of 57 products – everything produced at the Jarratt factory – from smoked hams and turkey to the liverwurst pate and olive terrine loaf, totaling more than seven million pounds of food.

The listeria outbreak has triggered deaths in 18 states so far, including Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina.

It is the biggest food-borne disease to hit the US since the cantaloupe outbreak in 2011, when cantaloupe contaminated with listeria sickened 147 people and lead to 33 deaths. 

Boar’s Head supplies meats to deli counters at stores including Walmart, Kroger’s, Target and Save-a-Lots. 

Gunter ‘Garshon’ Morgenstein, a father-of-three from Newport, Virginia, is pictured above with his wife Peggy. He died after suffering from a listeria infection after eating Boar’s Head deli meats

Morgenstein had eaten a Boar’s Head liverwurst in the day’s before falling ill. This meat is now included in the multi-state recall for listeria contaminated products

Among the victims was father-of-three and Holocaust survivor Gunter Morgenstein, 88, who had regularly consumed the company’s liverwurst because it reminded him of his native Germany.

Days after consuming a Boar’s Head product in July this year, Morgenstein became fatigued and began to have trouble breathing before being rushed to hospital.

Doctors said he was infected with listeria, and had developed meningitis as a result, causing deadly brain inflammation.

He died on July 18 this year, just ten days after he was admitted.

Revealing his father’s story, his son Garshon told DailyMail.com: ‘I think that is one of the biggest things, you know, that my mom and me are in most shock over — that he survived the Holocaust only to die from deli meats years later.

‘It is kind of ridiculous when you think about it. That’s part of the irony of the whole thing.’

Sue Fleming, 88, and her husband Patrick, 76, are suing deli meats manufacturer Boar’s Head and the shop where they purchased the meat after Ms Fleming became ‘deathly ill’ from listeria

Boar’s Head is bracing for a slew of lawsuits from sickened customers. 

They include Missouri-based Sue Fleming, 88, who launched a lawsuit against the manufacturer after falling ‘deathly ill’ after eating a deli sausage in July.  

Fleming, who lives with her husband Patrick, 76, in High Ridge, ate a Boar’s Head liverwurst late last month after buying it from her local grocery store.

But in the days that followed she says she developed nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps, before suffering from shaking and whole-body aches.

She was rushed to hospital, where tests confirmed a listeria infection — according to the lawsuit. She spent nine days in intensive care and 11 in rehab, but claims she still suffers from neurological symptoms and is yet to regain her full strength.

The couple are now suing Boar’s Head for more than $25,000 to cover medical and legal costs, and damage to ‘enjoyment of life’ and their marital relationship.

This is the outside of the plant, which Boar’s Head said has now been closed for cleaning

At least two people have died and 34 have been sickened in the multi-state listeria outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats — with the CDC saying others are likely infected.

Boar’s Head said in a statement: ‘We deeply regret the impact this recall has had on affected families.

‘No words can fully express our sympathies and the sincere and deep hurt we feel for those who have suffered losses or endured illness.’

Boar’s Head added that the Jarratt, Virginia plant at the center of the crisis has been shut down for cleaning.