10 Things the Record Shows About Boar’s Head at the Publix Deli Counter
The Boar’s Head label sits behind the glass at Publix deli counters from Pensacola to Key West.
That label has also carried a federal paper trail since 2024.
None of it came from shoppers.
Here’s what the record shows about Boar’s Head at the Publix deli counter.
1. Boar’s Head Recalled More Than 7 Million Pounds
Boar’s Head began with a small recall on July 26, 2024, pulling about 207,528 pounds of liverwurst and other deli meats off store shelves.
Four days later it wasn’t small anymore.
On July 30 the company widened the recall to cover every product made at its Jarratt, Virginia plant between May 10 and July 29 of that year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) later put the total at more than 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry.
Axios reported 71 products on the expanded list that week.
The list kept growing.
Why the Jarratt Line Stopped Running
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) suspended inspection on the Boar’s Head liverwurst line on July 25, 2024, a day before the first recall notice went out.
Four days after that, the agency suspended inspection on every production line at the Jarratt plant.
A federally inspected plant can’t ship meat without an inspector on site, so the suspension halted the work there.
2. Ten Deaths Traced to Boar’s Head Deli Meat
Boar’s Head deli meat was linked to Listeria monocytogenes illnesses in 19 states in 2024.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) closed the investigation on January 31, 2025, with 61 confirmed illnesses and 60 hospitalizations.
Ten people died.
One of those deaths was in Florida.
CDC recorded two more in South Carolina and two in New York.
Investigators traced the contamination to the same Jarratt plant that made the recalled liverwurst.
That’s the federal tally.
3. 69 Violations at the Boar’s Head Plant
Boar’s Head’s Jarratt plant piled up a year of sanitation violations before the recall.
USDA inspectors recorded 69 instances of noncompliance there between August 1, 2023, and August 2, 2024.
The Associated Press reported on those records on August 29, 2024, about a month after the recall.
Inspectors described black mold on ceilings, flies moving in and out of pickle vats, heavy discolored meat buildup on equipment and blood pooled on the floor.
Condensation dripped above stored product, too.
The problems came first.
4. Three More Boar’s Head Plants Had Problems
Boar’s Head had sanitation findings at plants nowhere near Jarratt.
USDA records released in January 2025 documented unsanitary conditions at three more company facilities.
The records covered New Castle, Indiana, Forrest City, Arkansas, and a second Virginia site in Petersburg.
Inspectors logged mold on ceilings and walls, unidentified slime, dried meat residue, insects and rust.
Some of those findings date as far back as 2019.
News organizations obtained the records through Freedom of Information Act requests.
That’s four plants in all.
5. Boar’s Head Controlled Listeria With Sanitation Alone
Boar’s Head controlled listeria at the Jarratt plant with cleaning and nothing else.
USDA’s listeria rule gives a ready-to-eat meat plant three ways to handle the bacteria.
Alternative 1 pairs a post-lethality treatment with an antimicrobial agent.
Alternative 2 uses one or the other.
Sanitation with no added step is Alternative 3.
FSIS wrote in a January 2025 review that the Jarratt plant ran on that option.
That was before the outbreak.
The company says the plant now runs the stricter Alternative 2 program.
6. Boar’s Head Closed the Plant and Dropped Liverwurst
Boar’s Head announced on September 13, 2024, that it was closing the Jarratt plant indefinitely.
The company discontinued liverwurst the same day.
Boar’s Head said its investigation traced the contamination to a production process that existed only at Jarratt and was used only for that one product.
That recipe is retired.
Every other Boar’s Head product line stayed in production at the company’s other plants.
7. Boar’s Head Settled Two Lawsuits
Boar’s Head settled the first wrongful death case from the outbreak in December 2024, with the family of an 88-year-old man who died after eating its liverwurst.
Neither side disclosed the terms.
A separate class action ended with the company agreeing to pay $3.1 million.
A federal judge in New York granted preliminary approval on January 31, 2025.
Shoppers who bought recalled products between May 10 and August 12, 2024, could file a claim, with a full refund for anyone holding a receipt.
Boar’s Head admitted no wrongdoing in either case.
Psst! How much do you know about Publix and what happens behind a deli counter? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Publix Deli IQ
Answer these questions on Publix history and the food-safety rules behind every deli counter. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
What makes Listeria monocytogenes different from typical foodborne bacteria?
8. Congress Wrote to Boar’s Head Twice
Boar’s Head has heard from members of Congress twice since the outbreak.
Lawmakers wrote on September 30, 2024, asking the company to account for what happened at Jarratt.
Boar’s Head replied in writing.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro rejected that reply in December 2024 as a corporate dodge rather than a credible answer.
DeLauro and nine other members of the Food Safety Caucus wrote again on September 16, 2025, asking company executives to appear in person and justify reopening the plant.
They set a September 26 deadline for an answer.
The Associated Press reported that October that Boar’s Head said it was reviewing the letter.
9. Boar’s Head Reopened Jarratt Under Federal Inspection
Boar’s Head, a Sarasota company, restarted production at the Jarratt plant on February 2, 2026, about 18 months after the suspension.
Virginia state employees had inspected the plant before the outbreak, under a cooperative agreement that lets a state do federal inspection work.
This time was different.
FSIS took the job back and put federal staff on the site instead.
USDA told the Associated Press the plant would face heightened monitoring for 90 days after it reopened.
Boar’s Head says the facility went through an extensive renovation.
The company has also named a chief food safety officer and formed an outside food safety advisory council.
10. Publix Pulled the Recalled Meat and Still Sells the Brand
Publix cleared the recalled Boar’s Head products off its shelves and out of online ordering in the summer of 2024.
The chain said it had removed everything made at the affected plant from every Publix location.
Publix kept selling Boar’s Head items produced at other plants, alongside Publix-brand deli meat.
It still does.
Publix product pages list Boar’s Head subs, sliced deli meats and Boar’s Head deli dressing today.
The chain still runs Boar’s Head deli promotions.
The brand never left.
Nothing in this record says how any one Publix shopper feels about the deli case.
It says what federal inspectors, a federal court and the company itself put in writing between 2024 and 2026.
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