“There were pools of blood on the floor”: CDC expects more people to fall ill due to Boar’s Head Listeria outbreak

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The Sarasota-based company has recalled more than seven million pounds of meat following a listeria outbreak last month. The Centers for Disease Control expects more people to become sick because the infection takes up to 10 weeks to develop.

Houston-based attorney Ron Simon represents a number of people whose blood tests have been directly linked to the listeria outbreak at Boar’s Head.

“Listeria is a very dangerous pathogen. It has the highest mortality rate of any pathogen we deal with. It also has the highest hospitalization rate of any pathogen we deal with,” Simon said.

In this case, Simon said, 57 people became ill and were hospitalized, while nine others died. One of them was Gunter Morgenstein, a Holocaust survivor and the subject of the first wrongful death lawsuit against Boar’s Head.

According to court documents, Morgenstein purchased Boar’s Head liver sausage and other Boar’s Head products. Over the next few days, Morgenstein consumed these products on several occasions and subsequently suffered from fatigue, fever, weakness and diarrhea.

“On July 8, 2024, Mr. Morgenstein arrived at Riverside Regional Hospital by ambulance shortly before 9 a.m.,” the document states. “For the first few days, hospital staff were baffled by his deteriorating condition. However, on July 11, 2024, the diagnosis finally became clear. After noting a fever and determining that Mr. Morgenstein was suffering from encephalopathy, his doctor ordered blood cultures, which came back positive for Listeria bacteria.”

According to a detailed note from Morgenstein’s doctor, “his hospitalization was complicated by sepsis and bacteremia due to listeria, as well as listerial meningitis encephalitis.” The note goes on to say that Morgenstein died at 4:10 a.m. on July 18.

Peter Pitts, president of the Center of Medicine in the Public Interest and former deputy commissioner of the FDA, said sometimes simply throwing away recalled products is not enough.

“Listeria can survive on countertops and other places, so be extra cautious, pay extra attention to cleanliness and protect your family,” Pitts said.

The outbreak was traced to a facility in Boar’s Head, Virginia.

“Why was this plant allowed to remain open? How could the quality be so poor? Was it a plant problem? Was it a senior management problem?” asked Pitts.

Pitts said it was about making it clear to manufacturers that there would be consequences if they did not comply with the regulations.

“The lesson we’ve learned here is that you can’t take quality or regulation lightly. Compliance is an expensive proposition, but that’s the rules of the game, and if you’re not willing to spend the money to do it right, you’ll get caught and you’ll get in trouble,” Pitts said.

Simon agreed, pointing in particular to the inspection reports for the Virginia plant.

“There were pools of blood on the floor. Ceiling fans were spraying unknown liquids onto unopened products. There were insects. Ants, cockroaches, garbage, bits of meat on almost everything in the factory,” Simon said.

Simon went on to say that any reasonable person would have said, “Stop, we need to clean this up so the food is safe.”

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