Boar’s Head, a popular brand of deli meats and cheeses, has issued a recall on some of its cheese products right before Thanksgiving due to possible listeria contamination.
The recall notice, issued Monday by the company, said the following pecorino romano cheese products are affected: the Boar’s Head 6-ounce retail cup and the Boar’s Head food service-sized bags.
The cheeses are produced by the Ambriola Company, which supplies products for several companies including Boar’s Head, the company said. Ambriola issued the recall, Boar’s Head said, adding it has halted the purchase of the products and has notified retail stores to remove it from the shelves nationally.
“This was an isolated incident related to The Ambriola Company (a third-party manufacturer). No other Boar’s Head products manufactured at any other facility are impacted by this recall,” the company said.
Boar’s Head was the focus of a massive recall in 2024 linked to listeria, where it withdrew 7 million pounds of deli meats potentially contaminated with listeria. Ten people died and nearly 60 were hospitalized in a listeria outbreak that was traced to a plant in Jarratt, Virginia, that produced Boar’s Head deli meats.
That outbreak and one by Oklahoma-based BrucePac involving more than 11 million pounds of meat and poultry products sold at retail stores nationwide and distributed to schools and other institutions led to changes in how the U.S. Department of Agriculture is handling food safety inspections and actions, particularly with regard to listeria.
In one big change, the Food Safety and Inspection Service is adding broader listeria species testing to all samples of ready-to-eat products to include surface samples. The agency currently tests for listeria, but adding more species to its regulatory framework will help regulators measure the effectiveness of the sanitation program.
USDA inspectors had documented dozens of violations at the Virginia Boar’s Head plant since 2022 and warned the conditions posed an “imminent threat” to public health, according to agency records, first obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request. But Boar’s Head but did nothing to correct the problems inspectors had documented, which included live and dead bugs; mold, mildew and algae growth; and multiple instances of blood puddled on the floor, according to the records.
Listeria monocytogenes is a hardy type of bacteria found in soil, water and animal feces, and it can survive and even thrive during refrigeration and is one of the most deadly foodborne pathogens.
An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections can be hard to pinpoint because symptoms may occur quickly — or up to 10 weeks after eating contaminated food.
The infections are especially dangerous for older people, those who are pregnant or those with weakened immune systems. Even in healthy people, a listeria infection can cause symptoms such as high fever, headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
With reporting by Beth Dalbey, Patch staff