USDA locks barn door after Listeria escapes – eFoodAlert

Five months after CDC placed the initial notice of a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak finally traced to Boar’s Head deli meat, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a series of “…stronger measures to protect the public from Listeria monocytogenes.”

The announced measures fall into three categories, described in the FSIS notice as:

• develop its science-based approach to reducing foodborne pathogens, with a key focus on Listeria monocytogenes;
• improve training and tools for inspection workers;
• changed its management of regulated facilities, with an emphasis on data review and state inspection agreements.

Specific steps will include:

• expansion of the test to include species of Listeria except for Listeria monocytogenes
• asked 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
• conduct Food Safety Assessments of ready-to-eat meat and poultry facilities that rely solely on sanitation measures to control Listeria
• FSIS field supervisors will conduct in-person, follow-up visits if problems are identified during Food Safety Inspections
• weekly verification of “risk factors” in ready-to-eat facilities
• updating cooperative agreements with participating state agencies
• change the criteria 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 are traceable to products under FSIS regulatory authority.

The explosion of the pig’s head

On July 19, 2024, the CDC announced that it is investigating the outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes diseases starting in late May 2024.

At the end of the epidemic, the agency documented 61 cases in 19 states. Sixty of the victims were hospitalized.

Ten people died.

Epidemiological, traceback, and laboratory investigations confirmed that Boar’s Head liverwurst and other Boar’s Head deli meats were the source of the outbreak.

Information released by FSIS in response to multiple Freedom of Information Requests reveals that the agency is aware major shortfalls at the Boar’s Head production facility since October 2022, but no action has been taken to suspend production or order cleanup. These deficiencies were described as an “imminent threat to the product” in a Food Safety Assessment conducted in September/October 2022.

Yu Shang outbreak

On November 22, 2024, the CDC announced in a second Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.

This outbreak, which is still ongoing, includes 19 cases in 8 states. Seventeen of the victims of the outbreak were hospitalized.

Two people died—both were infants.

Epidemiology, traceback, and lab investigations point to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products from Yu Shang Foods as the source of the outbreak.

BrucePac remembers

In October 2024, BrucePac recalled 11,765,285 pounds (5,882 tons) of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products produced from May 31, 2024, to October 8, 2024, due to the possible spread of Listeria monocytogenes.

The products are sent to other establishments and distributors throughout the country and then distributed to restaurants, schools and institutions.

Fortunately, there were no outbreaks associated with this massive recall.

What happened?

Unlike facilities under FDA jurisdiction, FSIS-inspected plants are not permitted to operate “without the benefit of inspection.” In theory, this should ensure that food produced under FSIS jurisdiction is safe to eat.

In practice, the level of inspection 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 act based on the violations identified in the embedded inspector

In the Boar’s Head case, FSIS allowed a bad situation to get progressively worse, only taking enforcement action once the company was clearly identified as the source of a fatal case. Listeria monocytogenes infection

If the FSIS had acted in October 2022 on its Food Safety Assessment report, the epidemic would not have happened, and ten people would not have lost their lives over a liverwurst sandwich.

Will FSIS’s “stronger measures” solve the problem?

On the face of it, the measures contained in the FSIS notice appear reasonable and should improve the agency’s oversight of the industry it is tasked with overseeing.

The effectiveness of these proposed measures will depend on the willingness of FSIS supervisory and management personnel to take prompt and significant action when evidence of violations is presented.

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne illness outbreaks and investigations?

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