In the coming months, the company’s officials reopened the Deli Deli Meat plant, in the heart of the outbreak of food poisoning last year, reopened in the coming months.
But recent inspections at Boar’s Cape of three states documented sanitation problems similar to those that caused Listeria pollution that killed 10 people and became ill.
The Jarratt plant, Virgínia, closed in September when officials in the United States Department of Agriculture suspended operations and removed the federal inspection brands needed to operate, saying that the company “did not maintain health conditions”. Boar’s head stopped doing Liverwurst and recalled more than £ 7 million of DELI products.
USDA officials this week said they had “thoroughly reviewed” the plant and raised the forced suspension on July 18.
“The installation fully complies with the guidelines and protocols established for safe food handling and production and the serious problems that caused the suspension have been completely rectified,” said USDA Safety and Inspection Service officials in an email Wednesday.
However, the documents obtained by Associated Press through a request for freedom of information show that Boar’s CAP plants in Arkansas, Indiana and other Virginia places were marked by the same type of sanitation problems that caused the outbreak, with the most recent report in June.
In the last seven months, government inspectors denounced problems that include cases of fat meat and waste that remained in equipment and walls, drainage blocked with meat products, pearl condensation on the ceilings and earth, overflowing garbage and staff who did not carry protective protection hairs and plastic apron or wash their hands.
The records, which included USDA breach reports registered by inspectors from January 1 to July 23, raised new questions about the company’s promises to address systemic problems and the federal supervision of Listeria pollution in plants that take food ready for food.
“If there is evidence that food security problems continue, the Government must ensure that the company will solve them,” said Sandra Eskin, a former USDA officer who now stops Foodborne’s disease, a food -focused consumer group.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced plans last month to strengthen efforts to combat food germs, including Listeria.
Works published in Virginia
Boar’s Head officials, the 120 -year -old company based in Sarasota, Florida, have published work openings for two dozen positions, including a food safety quality analyst in the Jarratt site.
The company called a group of expert advisers last fall and hired a food security manager in May. The advisers include Frank Yiannas, a former United States Food and Drug Administration official, and Mindy Brashears, the candidate for President Donald Trump for the USDA’s Undersecretary Food Safety.
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Boar’s chief last year said that “they regret and apologize deeply” for pollution and that “complete measures are being implemented to prevent an incident from happening again.”
But company officials refused to discuss the problems they encounter this year. They canceled an AP programmed interview with Natalie Dyenson, the new food safety officer. And they refused to allow Yiannas to detail the research he led to the cause of pollution.
Brashears, who is now running a Food Security Center at Texas Tech University, did not respond to comments on the problems of the wild boar’s head. An automatic email response said the USDA candidate traveled outside the country until August 25. It is maintained at the company’s food security board.
“Boar’s CAP has an unmatched commitment to the safety and quality of food. This commitment is reflected in the latest improvements in our practices and protocols” described on the company’s website, Boar’s Head said in a statement by email.
“We have also been working with the USDA to develop a plan to reopen our Jarratt installation measured and deliberate in the coming months,” the statement said.
Inappropriate sanitation practices
The 35 pages of the new findings of the inspection cover the wild boar places in Forrest City, Arkansas; New castle, Indiana; and Petersburg, Virginia.
They were surprised outside of food safety proponents, who said that factory conditions should have improved during the year since the outbreak was identified.
“After all they happened, you should sit in a place where you could eat essentially cooking meat on the factory of the factory of the factory,” said Brian Ronholm, director of Policy Food for Consumer Reports, a defense group.
Rosa Deauro representative called the “horrible” findings.
“This is a pattern of negligence: to cut corners to protect the company’s background line at the expense of consumers, and these conditions show a complete disregard for food safety and public health in the North -American people,” said the Connecticut Democrat in a statement.
The findings echo the “inadequate sanitation practices” that USDA officials said they contributed to the outbreak. Key factors included waste, condensation and structural problems in buildings, a January report concluded.
On the Jarratt floor, state inspectors working in collaboration with USDA had documented molds, insects, fluid drips from the ceilings and waste of meat and fats on the walls, lands and equipment, as reported above.
Although no cases of insects were documented in this year’s inspection reports, there were repeated reports of “dry fats and protein of the previous day’s production” in equipment, scales and walls. In April, an inspector at the Petersburg plant reported to find meat discarded below equipment, including “5-6 hams, 4 large pieces of meat and a large amount of meat juice”.
Other reports, the detailed condensation of pearls “directly on the food contact surfaces of the transport tables and tapes”. Additional reports documented with the meat racks that were documented, the doors that could not completely close and the staff who ignored the hand washing stations.
Reports point to a “food security culture problem,” said Barbara Kowalcyk, who runs a security and nutrition security center at George Washington University.
“What came out of me is that there is an organizational culture problem that needs to be changed,” he said. “Usually this culture must start with the top.”
In the meantime, he advised consumers to carefully think about DELI’s meat consumption. Elderly and those who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to severe diseases of Listeria infections.
“I think they need to be aware that there are problems in this organization that are not yet completely controlled, it seems,” Kowalcyk said.
Boar’s chief faced various demands of people who fell sick or the families who died. Several survivors refused to publicly comment on new problems, citing financial settlements with the company that included non -disclosure agreements.
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