DEI, Incompetence, Filth And Death

People are dying from simply picking up and eating deli sandwiches. At my local grocery store, you can get the store brand of meat, or for a little more, you can get the premium stuff, Boar’s Head. However, right now, I doubt too many people are choosing premium meat unless you feel like rolling the dice with your health.

You see, Boars Head has a significant problem with one of its plants in Jarratt, Virginia, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Starting with the Boar’s Head Brand itself. The company has altered its hiring and training processes and now proclaims:

“Boar’s Head is part of the Tent Coalition for Refugees in the U.S., exploring hiring, training, and mentoring opportunities for refugees across the country.”

Has that propensity to lean into DEI affected the atmosphere at the Virginia plant? Well, something is wrong because the conditions for a food facility were horrendous. The results have resulted in a listeria breakout that has left nine people dead and 57 others hospitalized.

Listeria infection is a foodborne bacterial illness that can be very serious for pregnant women, people older than 65, and people with weakened immune systems.

Food safety experts criticized government health inspectors for allowing a “listeria factory” to persist despite numerous violations before the deadly outbreak was traced to contaminated Boar’s Head deli meats.

The plant was said to have bugs, pools of blood on the floor, and growing mold over the past year, according to records released by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Food Safety attorney Bill Marler gave a grave description to the New York Post:

“These inspection reports show that this was a listeria factory as much as it was a meat factory. The government needs to answer the question of what were you doing? Didn’t this generate enough questions given the size of this plant.”

The health inspectors found 69 instances of “non-compliance” at the Jarratt plant. During a Feb. 21 visit, one inspector noted “a rancid smell” in the raw receiving cooler and “ample amounts of blood in puddles on the floor.”

On January 9, a “black mold-like substance” was found in another holding cooler and on the exterior of four steel vats, accompanied by one to two inches of meat on June 1.

During six visits, inspectors observed mold in various locations. On June 10, an inspector discovered approximately 15-20 flies entering and exiting four vats of pickles left in the room.

Another warning sign of imminent danger should have been the presence of condensation and clogged drains, which caused ongoing moisture and created an environment where listeria bacteria thrive. Lee-Ann Jaykus, a professor of food, bioprocessing, and nutrition sciences at North Carolina State University, who reviewed the reports released on Thursday, reported this information.

“Had I been an inspector in a plant like that I would have said ‘you guys need to be swabbing like crazy for listeria’ because many of the non-compliances are risk factors for having a listeria problem,” Jaykus told The New York Post.

So, we have a plant that appears to be very focused on hiring, training, and mentoring illegals, so much so that actual plant cleanliness was not a priority.

Upon discovering the filth, the inspectors did nothing to enforce corrections of the issues or shut the plant down. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, responsible for regulating meat plants, seemed to have shifted blame for allowing the plant to stay open.

The agency issued a statement on Thursday explaining that the inspectors were employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). The VDACS had a contract with the USDA and was authorized to monitor the plant according to federal standards.

Huh?

An FSIS spokesperson said in a statement that the plant “remains closed until the establishment is able to demonstrate it can produce a safe product.” He `added that the agency is “working closely with VDACS to ensure the establishment has an effective system in place to produce safe food for the public.”

That excuse didn’t hold much water with one food safety expert who wished to remain anonymous.

“FSIS is scrambling right now and trying to figure out how to save face, and one way, of course, is to say that it was Virginia’s responsibility. But ultimately, the buck falls on the federal agency.”

The Virginia agency stated that its employees “conduct inspections at the Jarratt plant every operating day” and that the plant is required to take “corrective actions” for each ” non-compliance.” VDACS also mentioned that over the past year, it took 12 samples from the plant to a USDA lab for testing, and all of them came back negative for listeria.

Despite their efforts and the substantial notes taken by the inspectors, it took the Maryland Department of Health to raise the alarm in July. They were the ones who tested a sample of liverwurst for listeria, which led to two recalls of Boar’s Head products. This outbreak is now the most significant listeriosis incident since the cantaloupe-associated outbreak in 2011.

Boar’s Head recalled seven million pounds of ready-to-eat deli meats and poultry products last month, in addition to a smaller recall earlier in July when the outbreak was first detected.

It may be too early to blame Boar Head’s problems entirely on its hiring stance. However, it seems more than coincidental that problems arise when companies adopt these types of quota-based hiring practices.  

The other problem is that the inspectors clearly failed to address the issues that they saw firsthand. They are not there to take notes and push paper; they are there to identify problems and ensure they are corrected.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that the United States commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. 

The FSIS appears to be another government agency that cannot be trusted. Sadly, the American public will bear the brunt of the woke radical left that allows perfect storms like this to occur. Poor hiring practices result in a filthy meat plant, combined with lackluster inspection processes by inspectors who are either untrained or uncaring.

If this woke culture is left unchecked, more Americans will suffer and die. Meanwhile, the Democrats push Harris and Walz with dreams of tainted liverwurst dancing in their heads.