The popular deli meat company Boar’s Head is recalling an additional 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat products made at a Virginia plant as an investigation into a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning continues, U.S. Agriculture Department officials said Tuesday.
The new recall includes 71 products made between May 10 and July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names. It follows an earlier recall of more than 200,000 pounds of sliced deli poultry and meat. The new items include meat intended to be sliced at delis as well as some packaged meat and poultry products sold in stores.
They include liverwurst, ham, beef salami, bologna and other products made at the firm’s Jarratt, Virginia, plant.
The recalls are tied to an ongoing outbreak of listeria poisoning that has killed two people and sickened nearly three dozen in 13 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all of those who fell ill have been hospitalized. Illnesses were reported between late May and mid-July.
The problem was discovered when a liverwurst sample collected by health officials in Maryland tested positive for listeria. Further testing showed that the type of bacteria was the same strain causing illnesses in people.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to immediately and voluntarily expand our recall to include all items produced at the Jarratt facility,” the company said on its website. It has also halted production of ready-to-eat foods at the plant.
The meat was distributed to stores nationwide, as well as to the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama, Agriculture Department officials said.
Consumers who have the recalled products in their homes should not eat them and should discard them or return them to stores for a refund, company officials said. Health officials said refrigerators should be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized to prevent contamination of other foods.
The Maryland Department of Health has issued an urgent consumer advisory warning against eating specific Boar’s Head deli meats due to potential contamination with Listeria bacteria.
An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC.
Listeria infections typically cause fever, muscle aches, and tiredness and may cause stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions.
Symptoms can occur quickly or for up to 10 weeks after eating contaminated food. The infections are especially dangerous for people older than 65, those with weakened immune systems and during pregnancy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Election officials in Maryland and Virginia are urging those skeptical of the vote to see for themselves how the process works.
After President Donald Trump revisited debunked election conspiracy theories in a primetime speech Thursday, elections officials in Maryland and Virginia urged skeptics to get in touch with their local elections offices to learn about observing the process for themselves.
They also spoke to WTOP about the systems that make voting secure in their jurisdictions and in other states.
“First of all, paper ballots can’t be hacked, right?” Maryland elections administrator Jared DeMarinis said. “Like we are a paper ballot state; everyone votes on a paper ballot.”
On the machines that tabulate the results, “We do logic and accuracy testing prior to each election, which is for public observation,” DeMarinis said.
And after each election, the Maryland State Board of Elections runs audits to verify the accuracy of the count.
In Virginia, which is holding its primary election on Aug. 4, Samantha Alfaro, the communications manager for Loudoun County’s Office of Elections, said the decentralized nature of the nation’s election system is “a feature of our democracy.”
“I would say the fact that states, localities, cities all have different voting equipment makes elections secure,” Alfaro said.
Votes are recorded and counted on different equipment in states, cities and counties.
“I would say that voters in Loudoun County and Virginia and this country as well can depend on the election process,” she said.
Alfaro also stressed that counting machines are not connected into the internet.
“All they do is count your ballot,” she said.
Even so, there are continual checks to make sure election data is secured.
“We take cybersecurity very seriously, DeMarinis said. “It’s a top priority of my administration at the Board of Elections. Here, we are constantly monitoring our sites and systems for any bad actors.”
Serving as an election officer is one way to learn more about the process firsthand.
DeMarinis said it takes what he called an “army” of citizens to help run elections, noting that the state hires roughly 26,000 election judges when voters head to the polls.
Similarly, in Virginia, “our elections are run by your friends and neighbors, so the person who’s checking you in at your precinct might be your neighbor or your kid’s teacher or the person who works at Trader Joe’s and is bagging your groceries,” Alfaro said.
Maryland and Virginia elections also provide for observers. The canvassing process, where the votes are processed and tabulated, is open to the public.
“That’s why we publicize when they are going to occur,” said DeMarinis.
Earlier in July, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division threatened DeMarinis and elections officials in other states with criminal charges.
DeMarinis’ letter arrived after the agency lost a bid to force Maryland to turn over its voter records.
“There’s a lot of talk about, I guess, the SAVE Act and noncitizens on our rolls, and again, it’s just not true,” he said.
“When they talk about wanting all these lists, it’s nothing more than a fishing expedition for mythical systematic evildoers that just again, don’t exist,” he said. “It’s more like the ‘Odyssey’ than reality.”
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RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Events scheduled for Friday, July 17 are being canceled across the Richmond area due to poor air quality making it unsafe to be outside.
Colonial Downs in New Kent canceled live racing for Friday but will continue on Saturday at an earlier-than-normal 11:30 a.m. post time. Military Appreciation Day at Colonial Downs is still on for Sunday, July 19.
Some areas in Virginia area under a Code Purple Alert, which means everyone should limit their time outside, especially children, older adults, and those with lung and heart diseases.
Click here to track the air quality near you.
Copyright 2026 WWBT. All rights reserved.
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