Boar's Head to close Virginia plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak

[MULTIZ321]

Boar's Head to close Virginia plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak

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Richard

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Food processing sanitation poses a conundrum for processors.

They can choose to decentralize food preparation locations. If you have more preparation locations, you create more locations where a sanitation breakdown. But if you have a breakdown at a location, the impact is more localized. In the extreme, you can move food preparation to the local store level, a la Chipotle. But that comes with a tradeoff for not having more direct management control of sanitation at the local level. Most processors have found that unacceptable, and Chipotle has now abandoned that model in favor of creating more regional processing locations where they can exert greater control of sanitation.

The flip side is that with more centralized food preparation, when there is a sanitation breakdown, the extent and implications are much more extensive. That leads to the conundrum: are you better off having: 1) more processing locations, accepting greater likelihood of sanitation breakdown but more limited impact, or 2) fewer processing locations, leading to lesser probability of a sanitation breakdown, but larger impacts if a breakdown occurs.

I suspect that most risk analyses will indicate that the extremes (devolving to the individual unit or consolidating to a single location) are not optimal. Between those two extremes there is a lot of room, and a lot of uncertainty.

****************
Based on personal experience, I would say that many food processors do not give adequate attention to sanitation issues until they get gob-smacked, a la Chipotle,. Drawing on another example, Jack-in-the-Box got religion after their sanitation breakdown in the 1990s. They went through an internal culture change that I'm not sure has been replicated by many of their competitors. And that was almost 30 years ago - which leaves me wondering how many of the people who were schooled by that trauma are still with Jacks.

 

[Passepartout]

I will henceforth take a double look at every package of Boar's Head (weird name, anyway) cheese, lunchmeat, etc. at the neighborhood super. I already cast a sidelong look at the slicing machines and food-prep counters where stuff I'm taking out is prepared.

There was a Chipotle here in town. It folded perhaps a year or so ago. The new ads on TV prompted me to look and lo and behold, another Chipotle has opened in a different location. No surprise. We have darn near every fast-food chain in existence. Too few mom and pop eateries, that we prefer to patronize.

Jim

 

[jp10558]

Food processing sanitation poses a conundrum for processors.

They can choose to decentralize food preparation locations. If you have more preparation locations, you create more locations where a sanitation breakdown. But if you have a breakdown at a location, the impact is more localized. In the extreme, you can move food preparation to the local store level, a la Chipotle. But that comes with a tradeoff for not having more direct management control of sanitation at the local level. Most processors have found that unacceptable, and Chipotle has now abandoned that model in favor of creating more regional processing locations where they can exert greater control of sanitation.

The flip side is that with more centralized food preparation, when there is a sanitation breakdown, the extent and implications are much more extensive. That leads to the conundrum: are you better off having: 1) more processing locations, accepting greater likelihood of sanitation breakdown but more limited impact, or 2) fewer processing locations, leading to lesser probability of a sanitation breakdown, but larger impacts if a breakdown occurs.

I suspect that most risk analyses will indicate that the extremes (devolving to the individual unit or consolidating to a single location) are not optimal. Between those two extremes there is a lot of room, and a lot of uncertainty.

****************
Based on personal experience, I would say that many food processors do not give adequate attention to sanitation issues until they get gob-smacked, a la Chipotle,. Drawing on another example, Jack-in-the-Box got religion after their sanitation breakdown in the 1990s. They went through an internal culture change that I'm not sure has been replicated by many of their competitors. And that was almost 30 years ago - which leaves me wondering how many of the people who were schooled by that trauma are still with Jacks.

Personally, I think I lean more towards local. Yes, more chances of a breakdown, but you really can minimize the damage as you say. As you get regionally or larger centralized the laws of big numbers don't work out well IMO - you are even with an overall lower risk per unit processed, by having so many more units processed you're going to hit the bad result almost guaranteed. And every time you do it's a huge impact and national news.

 

[pedro47]

Boar's Head to close Virginia plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak

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Richard

Please read the above article about this Jarrett Plant in Virginia. Shocking! How did they manage to pass local and state health inspections for the passed few years.
Reading articles about this Virginia plant it should been closed years ago. It was just a filthy plant and was it is sad; management knew and saw how filthy this plant was for years.

 

[ScoopKona]

How did they manage to pass local and state health inspections for the passed few years.

Bribery is cheaper than fixing the problem.

This is small potatoes. Really. A drop in the industrial-food-processing-squalor bucket. If consumers became outraged over all the ways they're being [censored] by the food industry -- instead of just the things which make them queasy -- maybe we could get some real change.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Please read the above article about this Jarrett Plant in Virginia. Shocking! How did they manage to pass local and state health inspections for the passed few years.
Reading articles about this Virginia plant it should been closed years ago. It was just a filthy plant and was it is sad; management knew and saw how filthy this plant was for years.

A food processing facility that has a robust sanitation program will identify and respond to sanitation issues well before those issues ever reach regulatory agency review. IMHO - this a significant factor that people consider in relation to recall notices - was this a problem that was proactively detected by the facility's monitoring program? Or is this something that was at a level that it was only detected by minimum governmental programs?

You can make your own decisions, but personally I am more confident in the integrity of a processor that proactively identifies and responds to a detected deviation incident instead of a facility that adopts a "sweep-it-under-the-rug-until-detected" risk management strategy.

At a more general level, I allow that, like myself, nobody is perfect. But the entities that are most worthy of my trust are those that are ready to own up to mistakes and adjust operations accordingly. My antennae go on alert whenever someone doubles down on their mistakes and cannot admit that they might have been in error.

 

[VacationForever]

We don't buy and eat lunch meat for a good reason. This plant should have been shutdown in 2022 when major issues were found.

 

[ScoopKona]

We don't buy and eat lunch meat for a good reason. This plant should have been shutdown in 2022 when major issues were found.

I'll cheerfully, CHEERFULLY eat it. Mortadella? Capicola? Salami? Proscuitto? Jamon? Bierschinken? Jagdwurst? Liverwurst? Pate campagne? Absolutely! Love it. If I didn't need to worry about calories or gout, I'd eat these things every day. I love making these things, too. (Can't make jamon or salami in my climate, but I can make some things). Charcuterie is my favorite kitchen trick there is -- turn scraps into gold.

It's just a question of sourcing the good stuff as opposed to buying whatever happens to be cheap and on sale. Unfortunately "the good stuff" never goes on sale. It's one of the ways you know you've found the good stuff, at least.

Lunch meat isn't the problem. Food processing factories which are best described as "industrial squalor" are the problem.

 

[Ken555]

Boars Head products have been excellent for decades. This particular incident is appalling, and it appears at first glance as if they are addressing it.

I bought some of their product earlier this week, and it was great as always.

 

[jacknsara]

I will henceforth take a double look at every package of Boar's Head (weird name, anyway) . . . .

Jim

There's actually a Christmas carol from which I presume the name was derived
It was sung at the boarding high school I attended
here's a couple of youtube renditions

 

[heitmullerj02]

I have been eating Boars Head for 60 years, this is the first time there has been any recall. Poor management @ that plant is to blame. They do have a good product.

 

[ScoopKona]

Poor management @ that plant is to blame.

This goes way behind "poor management." Everything failed. Management, ownership, inspectors, workers. Nobody looked around, said, "This is insane, I need to blow the whistle."

Calling what happened at that factory "poor management" is like reading about a child locked in a basement and calling it "bad parenting skills."

 

[VacationForever]

Boars Head products have been excellent for decades. This particular incident is appalling, and it appears at first glance as if they are addressing it.

I bought some of their product earlier this week, and it was great as always.

So do we, but only buy their cheeses.

 

[Big Matt]

There have been cases over the years where stuff like this completely torpedoed certain brands - see Schlitz as an example.

 

[Brett]

I worked in finance at a meat packing plant in Smithfield, Virginia many years ago. At the time it was great, big discounts on bacon, ham and hot dogs.
But when I saw the production line and the stuff they reprocessed into luncheon meat ..... ugh
Then I read about the nitrites / nitrates in processed meat.

I wish I could go vegetarian but I love steak and grilled chicken

 

[Ken555]

I worked in finance at a meat packing plant in Smithfield, Virginia many years ago. At the time it was great, big discounts on bacon, ham and hot dogs.
But when I saw the production line and the stuff they reprocessed into luncheon meat ..... ugh
Then I read about the nitrites / nitrates in processed meat.

I wish I could go vegetarian but I love steak and grilled chicken

Boars Head meats aren’t all the same as processed “luncheon meat”. For example: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/46177968-all-natural-oven-roasted-turkey-breast

In particular, this product states:

As part of the Boar's Head All Natural* Collection, the turkey used is humanely raised** with no added hormones or antibioticsꝉ, and there are no added nitrites or nitrates‡.

My personal favorite is this item: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/276-cracked-pepper-mill-smoked-turkey-breast. And it also does not have nitrates or nitrites. But, since it’s smoked it can be considered processed. Still, not as bad as many other products.

Even so, I frequently buy fresh turkey from a local deli. That’s the best.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brett]

Boars Head meats aren’t all the same as processed “luncheon meat”. For example: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/46177968-all-natural-oven-roasted-turkey-breast

In particular, this product states:



My personal favorite is this item: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/276-cracked-pepper-mill-smoked-turkey-breast. And it also does not have nitrates or nitrites. But, since it’s smoked it can be considered processed. Still, not as bad as many other products.

Even so, I frequently buy fresh turkey from a local deli. That’s the best.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use rotisserie chicken and fresh turkey and sliced ham for luncheon meats

But this thread made me think about my short time in the meat packing industry over 30 years ago -- interesting.
I once saw a vat of luncheon meat slurry spill on the floor and they used a shovel to scoop it up and put in back in the moving production line. And I hesitate to say they used (immigrant cheap labor) for the nightly sanitation cleaning of equipment and floors.

 

[DrQ]

... And I hesitate to say they used (immigrant cheap labor) for the nightly sanitation cleaning of equipment and floors.

This is not unusual. These are usually contractors, some with minimal training, and many times clean the machinery not using "lock out - tag out" safety protocols. I used to read OSHA accident reports and there were multiple incidents of fatalities involving cleaning crews in the food industry.

While some aspects of the industry have improved since the writing of "The Jungle", there are parts that have not.

Many of my relatives made their living from Hormel (Spam, spam, spam, spam ...) and one uncle who worked the "boning line", made a good living (1960 and 70's) but suffered terrible arthritis in his hands from repetitive stress injuries. In the 80's, they restructured the company which allowed the company to hire contractors for labor. My cousins (and their spouses) were not able to get the same level of employment from the company as their fathers which may not have been all bad.

Being a military brat, I was not directly involved, but I heard the stories during family get togethers.

 

[PigsDad]

Many of my relatives made their living from Hormel (Spam, spam, spam, spam ...)

Were they in Austin, MN?

Kurt

 

[DrQ]

Were they in Austin, MN?

Kurt

Yep

 

[pedro47]

Boars Head meats aren’t all the same as processed “luncheon meat”. For example: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/46177968-all-natural-oven-roasted-turkey-bre
In particular, this product states:



My personal favorite is this item: https://boarshead.com/products/turkey/276-cracked-pepper-mill-smoked-turkey-breast. And it also does not have nitrates or nitrites. But, since it’s smoked it can be considered processed. Still, not as bad as many other products.

Even so, I frequently buy fresh turkey from a local deli. That’s the best.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sound liked the Virginia plant is the only bad apple in Boar 's Head operation.

I use rotisserie chicken and fresh turkey and sliced ham for luncheon meats

But this thread made me think about my short time in the meat packing industry over 30 years ago -- interesting.
I once saw a vat of luncheon meat slurry spill on the floor and they used a shovel to scoop it up and put in back in the moving production line. And I hesitate to say they used (immigrant cheap labor) for the nightly sanitation cleaning of equipment and floors.

Sound liked a plant on Jefferson Ave or in Isle of Wright County.
I can remember working in a pie & cake factory that was unionizes and all the cleaning employees worked from 4PM to Midnight cleaning the plant.
There were no contract employees at this plant; that was in the last 1960's.

 

[Brett]

Sound liked the Virginia plant is the only bad apple in Boar 's Head operation.

Sound liked a plant on Jefferson Ave or in Isle of Wright County.
I can remember working in a pie & cake factory that was unionizes and all the cleaning employees worked from 4PM to Midnight cleaning the plant.
There were no contract employees at this plant; that was in the last 1960's.

Gwaltney -- Gwaltney was eventually bought by Smithfield Foods

 

[davidvel]

Liverwurst is disgusting if created correctly.

 

[pedro47]

Gwaltney -- Gwaltney was eventually bought by Smithfield Foods

I did not want to name those two (2) plants in Smithfield, VA. Back in the day; they were Smithfield Packing and Gwaltney. The two (2) plants were located side by side. But two (2) separate meat companies.

Smithfield, VA is famous for its Smithfield Hams and its bacon and hot dogs.

Now a foreign company own Smithfield Foods. .