Five months after the CDC posted the initial notice of a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak ultimately traced to Boar’s Head deli meats, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced a series of “…stronger measures to protect the public from Listeria monocytogenes.”
The announced measures fall into three categories, described in the FSIS announcement as:
- enhancing its science-based approach to mitigate foodborne pathogens, with a key focus on Listeria monocytogenes;
- improving training and tools for its inspection workforce;
- evolving its oversight of regulated facilities, with an emphasis on data review and state inspection agreements.
Specific measures will include:
- expanding testing to include species of Listeria other than Listeria monocytogenes
- asking the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods to review the agency’s regulatory approach
- updating training for the agency’s food safety inspectors
- conducting Food Safety Assessments at ready-to-eat meat and poultry facilities that rely exclusively on sanitation measures to control for Listeria
- FSIS field supervisors to conduct in-person, follow-up visits when problems are identified during Food Safety Assessments
- weekly verification of “risk factors” at ready-to-eat facilities
- updating cooperative agreements with participating state agencies
- revising criteria that are used to trigger establishment-review alerts
The FSIS announcement comes on the heels of two separate and deadly outbreaks of Listeria monocytogenes, both of which were traced to products that fall under FSIS regulatory authority.
Boar’s Head outbreak
On July 19, 2024, the CDC announced that it was investigating an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes illnesses that had begun in late May 2024.
By the time the outbreak had ended, the agency documented 61 cases in 19 states. Sixty of the victims were hospitalized.
Ten people died.
Epidemiological, traceback, and laboratory investigations confirmed Boar’s Head liverwurst and other Boar’s Head deli meats as the source of the outbreak.
Information released by the FSIS in response to multiple Freedom of Information Requests revealed that the agency had been aware of major deficiencies at the Boar’s Head production facility since October 2022, but had taken no action to suspend production or order a clean-up. These deficiences were described as posing an “imminent threat to product” in a Food Safety Assessment conducted in September/October 2022.
Yu Shang outbreak
On November 22, 2024, the CDC announced a second Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.
This outbreak, which is still on-going, comprises 19 cases in 8 states. Seventeen of the outbreak victims have been hospitalized.
Two people have died—both of them infants.
Epidemiology, traceback, and lab investigations pointed to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products from Yu Shang Foods as the source of the outbreak.
BrucePac recall
In October 2024, BrucePac recalled 11,765,285 pounds (5,882 tons) of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products manufactured from May 31, 2024, to October 8, 2024, due to potential adulteration with Listeria monocytogenes.
The products were shipped to other establishments and distributors nationwide then distributed to restaurants, schools and institutions.
Fortunately, no outbreak was associated with this massive recall.
What went wrong?
Unlike facilities that fall under FDA jurisdiction, FSIS-inspected plants are not permitted to operate “without benefit of inspection.” In theory, this should ensure that food produced under FSIS jurisdiction are safe to eat.
In practice, the level of scrutiny will undoubtedly vary, depending on the competence of the federal or state inspector assigned to a production plant and the willingness of the agency to take action based on the violations identified by the embedded inspectors.
In the case of Boar’s Head, the FSIS allowed a bad situation to become progressively worse, only taking enforcement action once the company had been identified unequivocally as the source of a deadly Listeria monocytogenes outbreak.
Had the FSIS acted in October 2022 on the report of its Food Safety Assessment, the outbreak would not have occurred, and ten people would not have lost their lives to a liverwurst sandwich.
Will the FSIS’s “stronger measures” solve the problem?
On the face of it, the measures contained in the FSIS announcement appear reasonable and should improve the agency’s oversight of the industry it is tasked with supervising.
The effectiveness of these proposed measures will depend on the willingness of FSIS supervisory and management personnel to take prompt and significant action when presented with evidence of violations.
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