A 10th person has died in the listeria outbreak that shuttered a Boar’s Head deli meat plant, federal health officials said Wednesday.
At least 59 people in 19 states have been sickened by the bacteria first detected in liverwurst made at the Jarratt, Virginia, plant. Illnesses were reported between late May and late August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All of those who fell ill were hospitalized.
The latest fatality was reported in New York, bringing the total deaths to two each in New York and South Carolina and one each in Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and New Mexico.
The contaminated meats have been recalled, obviously, but that relies on vendors to actually go through their stock and pull them from shelves. For major supermarkets and businesses they’re used to doing that for all sorts of products. But small businesses may not be paying attention nearly as closely.
And that doesn’t take into account products that had been purchased by a consumer before the recall, but stored until more recently. I regularly buy things like meat when it is on sale and freeze it for use months later, especially when it’s a premium product I otherwise wouldn’t get.