Bombshell report details unsanitary conditions inside Boar’s Head plants

Inspectors for the Department of Agriculture found unsanitary conditions including “insects and slime” at Boar’s Head facilities beyond the now-shuttered plant linked to last year’s deadly listeria outbreak, reports show.

The USDA has released a series of non-compliance reports linked to Boar’s Head following Freedom of Information Act requests from several news agencies, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The findings from inspections of Boar’s Head plants in New Castle, Indiana, Forrest City, Arkansas, and Petersburg, Virginia, date back roughly six years and flagged numerous violations, the AP said.

The outlet pointed to multiple descriptions in the reports, including equipment “covered in meat scraps,” “dry crusted meat from the previous day’s production,” “dark, stinky residue,” and “unidentified slime” and “an abundance of insects.”

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In response to the new findings, Boar’s Head told the AP the violations detailed in the reports about the three plants “do not meet our high standards.”

FOX Business reached out to Boar’s Head for comment.

The descriptions of the conditions at the facilities are consistent with violations the USDA found at Boar’s Head’s Jarrett, Virginia, plant, which the company closed last year after it was identified as the source of a listeria outbreak that resulted in nine deaths and nearly 60 hospitalizations linked to tainted products made at the facility.

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In August, the USDA released a report detailing numerous violations at the Jarrett plant from January 2022 through Aug. 1, 2024, including “multiple instances of meat were found around the department on the floor,” and “standing water containing a brown mud/dirt like substance.”

Multiple reports found that the machines that were used to make deli meat products in the Jarrett plant had not been cleaned and had “meat residue” and “meat build up” on products. 

Additionally, in January 2024, a “black mold like substance” was observed in the plant. 

FOX Business’ Christine Rousselle contributed to this report.