Hundreds of New York City-area supermarkets were advised to yank “Boar’s Head signage until further notice” after the popular deli meat brand was linked to a deadly listeria outbreak, sparking a massive recall.
The National Supermarket Association, which represents 750 independently-owned stores, issued the directive Wednesday following a recall of an additional 7 million pounds of Boar’s Head products, according to a copy of a memo obtained by The Post.
The idea is to “maintain customer confidence and ensure safety” and to “prevent any confusion and reassure your customers about the quality and safety of your deli offerings,” the memo said.
The memo to remove Boar’s Head signage was spurred partially out of fear of being sued, sources told The Post.
“We don’t feel that we are liable,” Nelson Eusebio, political director of the NSA told The Post. “But [lawsuits] are a concern.”
That became evident Thursday as Boar’s Head Provisions was hit with a proposed consumer class action lawsuit in New York federal court.
As of Tuesday, 34 people have been sickened in the outbreak across 13 states, including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
On July 26, Boar’s initially flagged more than 200,000 pounds of liverwurst and other deli products for recall over concerns about listeria, which can cause illness particularly in pregnant people, people with weakened immune systems and the elderly
The company dramatically expanded the recall on Tuesday to include more than 70 products made at the company’s Jarratt, Va., facility between May and July, according to the department.
Many NSA members, which include 500 New York City-area banners as Key Food, C-Town, Associated and Bravo, subsequently closed their deli sections — mimicking the move by Stop & Shop, which closed deli counters at some 400 stores last week and again on Tuesday.
Boar’s Head accounts for up to 80% of the deli offerings, Eusebio added.
The Boar’s Head outbreak is the largest meat recall in at least a decade, food safety attorney Bill Marler told The Post.
“Given that they recalled 7 million pounds of product [federal agencies] must have visited the facilities and know something that we don’t yet,” he said.
While Boar’s Head caused the outbreak, there could be a case to be made that grocery stores caused cross contamination by not cleaning their facilities thoroughly, Marler said.
Federal officials confirmed this week that a Boar’s Head liverwurst that was examined by the Maryland Department of Health and found to contain the deadly listeria bacteria last week “matched the outbreak strain,” that has been found in more than a dozen states, a spokesperson for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service told The Post.
“We are still working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state partners to investigate this outbreak,” the FSIS spokesperson added.
The expanded recall this week includes 71 products listed on FSIS’s website.
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