'It was too late': Former Boar's Head sanitation manager breaks down where Jarratt plant went wrong 

This is wild 😂. Boar's Head is the most expensive deli meat and they're skimping on sanitation?!

This makes me so angry! One of the most expensive deli meats and they end up having the most horrible sanitary conditions. It should be counted as murder…those poor people and their families. My sympathy goes out to them. This makes me not want to buy any deli meat, period!

As egregious as the lack of sanitation was at this plant, the fact that inspectors from the FDA had done multiple inspections and written them up for gross unsanitary violations, yet took no action to protect consumers cannot be ignored. They need to be help accountable as well as Boars Head

I worked at a chemical manufacturing plant where we were always TAUGHT safety, but when it came down to actually PRACTICING it, management took a pass in the interest of profit. The plant finally exploded and was permanently ordered shut down! I was lucky to have left the company before it blew, but a good friend of mine wasn't so lucky and died in the blast.

Bloated, corrupt bureaucracy and greed. That's how to destroy a once respected and successful company.

One more reason to avoid ultra-processed deli meat regardless of brand.

That’s right whoever past those inspections should be dealt with

So they had a legitimate sanitation manager who was doing his job and was disgusted with the conditions and instead of the company helping him they fired him, and less than two years later there is a major outbreak and the company is 100% at fault.... I'm sorry people had to die but I'm glad my brother got redemption

This is absolutely disgusting!!!🤢 Never buying Boars Head again!!

Sad story for all...victims,all 9, 500 employees lose jobs, neighborhood loses...🕯️🕯️

I am glad this gentleman is speaking out. This is imperative for all of our safety. I hope this story has follow up. I was a dedicated Boars Head consumer. Once a company breaks trust, I would think it is very difficult to repair.

The damage is done. I trusted Boar’s Head for 20+ years. Will never buy again.

Boar's Head brand is done.

this is typical. Every time I do an inspection at work, the answer to the faults found is always the same, "but we have always done it this way!" OK, then you have always done it WRONG! Fortunately for me--but not for those I inspect--my recommendations become management objectives and it is a firing issue if not corrected. We have good senior management at my job who are not impressed with excuses. I know, rare. LOL

Disgusting! These CEOs make a gazillion dollars each year but can't be bothered with sanitation issues.

The families of the victims need to sue Boars head to the hilt. It wont bring their loved ones back but it will ruin the CEO's profit margin. As to the folks that just ignored the problem charge them with wrongful death lawsuits.

These big businesses are more concerned about turning a profit than the health of the consumer

Investors maximizing their profits, even if it it kills someone - but the USA government with all the rules and regulations is suppose to be there to prevent all that from happening.

Sounds like the former Head Sanitation Manager did not have the backing of senior management to make changes to sanitation procedures at the plant and that's why the old timers at the plant were able to resist the changes, and ultimately led to the termination of the Head Sanitation Manager in August 2023, only eight months after he was hired. Boar's Head is privately owned by the Brunckhorst and Bischoff families. Looks like they have just killed their cash cow.

Boars head will NEVER get any business from anyone ever again.....they knew their business was dirty & they chose to do nothing & people died...

it's all about the bottom line and cutting costs, boeing and plane safety, now food safety, this is america

Boars head is the P Diddy of the deli market. 😅

If inspectors stop calling these company's before inspection they wouldn't be able to get away with it .Inspectors should be charged !

What a way to destroy an iconic brand

I worked at a bottling company and one of the first places management cut was the sanitation employees and the cleaning times.

Boar’s Head brand is ruined forever

Profits over sanitation….including deaths. Heartbreaking!

Someone should go 2 jail

If this company has other plants around the country then they should all get random surprise inspections just to make sure they are not all being run like this one was.

A lot of bureaucracy there. That would have thrown a monkey wrench into anybody's trying to clean things up.

This plant is like every other plant. They clean when they have to. Not when they should.

I work for a beverage company we spend 2 million a year on sanitation

Death by overpriced lunch meat.. brutal.

Every time I hear a politician call for “LESS REGULATIONS” I think of tragedies like this that could be avoided.

I will tell you how it went down. Quality people are not hired anymore.

This seems systemic to Virginia's inspection practices. Boar's Head is responsible, and Virginia as well. People are dead from trusting this brand, and the state practices. Follow it where it goes.

When folks complain about "regulations" and "government interference" point to this facility as an example of what can happen.

FDA inspections are like OSHA visits, they schedule their inspections so management has time to hide violations. Been at my job for 24 years, they usually know a week or more before OSHA visits. If theyd show up unexpected and more than once every couple years we’d have less of these problems. Salary people look down on hourly people and take offense to our opinions or when we point out mistakes, they’ll usually target the hourly people they don’t like as well. We had a Hilo driver that was legally blind and he didn’t hide the fact, he had glaucoma, the state took his drivers license long ago, was completely blind in one eye and had to get regular injections in the other eye to keep what vision he had left. When we pointed this out to management they played dumb when the whole building knew about it, “This is the first I’m hearing about this” and lectured/threatened us about discriminating against the handicapped. Only finally took him off the Hilo driver job after doing 30k$ in damage to material. Not because it was unsafe to have a blind person driving a Hilo but because he cost them money in materials.

It starts with VDH being so lax when it comes to actually doing their jobs. That lax attitude originates from Richmond and then the stench spills over. This crap has been going on for years and all consumer are at risk. Restaurant inspections are also super lax. Just remember, these same inspectors also inspect schools and hospitals so again, everyone in Virginia is at risk. What are you going to do about Youngkin? Absolutely nothing because all involved parties will deny responsibility and steadfastly state they are doing a wonderful job. I have been complaining about the lax inspections for years and it all falls on deaf ears. You career politicians, Richmond-level managers, and local inspectors make me literally sick. They choose to let corporations and restaurants make money (greed) over safety every day. When will enough be enough? This only receives a little attention when people die, then it gets washed under the rug again. Same old song and dance routine everywhere. Consumers, we are not safe from corporate greed and government collusion.

This should be national news...absolutely outrageous.

You assume that our food is safe. Boars Head is expensive, expect that it is processed it an excellent and clean manner. Not buying it again.

I would have put waterproof sensors on the cart bottoms and had a sensor activated sterilization wash on conveyor with a ceiling mounted alarm that would go off after a predetermined point of access to prevent infiltration. You can't trust anyone to do their job correctly nowadays. It's mostly due to low wages, incompetent leadership hired based on clout level rather than merits, which makes most not have any pride in their work nor respect in their employers.

Good grief. If this is true then Boar’s Head need to take a big financial hit and lose market share!

This is heartbreaking! I adored Boars Head, just too broke to buy it. The poor poor families, we fed this to our kids!!!! Deepest sympathy to the families! My Grandfather’s worked for Hormel Foods for years. They were over the top on disinfecting & cleanliness. Special crews did sanitizing of everything, then an anal retentive detail supervisors came in to re check the checkers. No one has gotten sick from their foods. What’s so terrible about Boars Head is lives were LOST!! Not hospitalizations, but deaths!! To have such a good product and have the entire company go down the drain from mismanagement, is pathetic! But I’ll bet the CEO’s and those at the TOP WILL STILL WALK AWAY WITH MILLIONS. JUST NO EXCUSES, NONE!😅

Gonna be hard to stomach any brand of cold cuts again. We were always careful about the brand and quality of the sandwich meats we purchased. We are raised in NYC and thinking Boars Head was the best. So much for that theory. 😢

Oh no, even the 'a' is missing from the building's sign. My thoughts are with the families that lost loved ones and employees who are now displaced without work. So close to Thanksgiving as well. It's a tragedy.

As someone who used to work at HT, this both did and didn't surprise me, on the one hand they were up our asses constantly over their products presentation and etc., which made it super frustrating to work with a lot of the time. On the other though I did notice inconsistencies at times with the quality of their products, so I'm not surprised this happened eventually sadly. I'm curious though what that is going to mean for where I live though, given if they shut it down permanently I'm curious if their still going to be able to supply my area. Followed by how much damage this is going to cause them given this isn't a small incident, but a massive one that has caused permanent damage to people and families.

This is where ignorance combined with arrogance gets us!

Didn't they have the same problem a few years ago ?

Owned and operated by Tyson foods. The same company that closed a meat plant in iowa and started another in a different state that only hires illegal immigrants. Time to boycott all things Tyson

When you hire workers who have no clue what food safety is, this is what you get.

ALL these commercial meat packing plants have FEDERAL USDA INSPECTORS ON SITE. WHERE THE HELL WERE THEY?

The news anchor’s name is, Sara Molina. That’s too close to salmonella. Especially when I just woke up.

Buy small and local if you can! The way to these companies is through their pockets. They dont care about you, just your dollar. If you can support a local market, its time to start showing these corps were sick of their crap and actually put our dollar where its valued and worth something. Your purchases matter! Where you buy from matters! Not everyone can, but if you can, try shopping local! Support family businesses snd small businesses! Support places that due their part!

So the old timers there at the plant pushed back on new cleaning standards. How's their attitude now that they are unemployed?

They went wrong by hiring employees that didn't care about their job.

Listeria destroyed Blue Bell ice cream. Boar's Head is flirting with disaster here.

You can work on your integrity your whole life and you can lose it in one moment I'm 60 and I've only been eating boar's Head for 45 years and I will make sure that none of their products will ever be served to me in any way shape or form far as I'm concerned in my eyes you're out of business

The state is responsible for inspections!.. where is the governor in all this? And how many more food products facilities in the state are like this?

I couldn’t understand what he was saying, where was this?

I have two packs of Boar's Head cheese in my refrigerator right now................and now I don't!

Corp gets these reports. Corp didn't send a top guy to oversee the violations properly fixed. They would blame it on a fall guy. Corp is responsible in the end. All processing plants need to be closed after a failed sanitary and safety inspection until inspection passes.

Thank you to this man for trying to keep the public safe. Not all hero’s wear capes!

Sounds like the Hoar's Bed to me

There is no way this guy was in charge. If he was he is part of the problem

So why are the grocery stores still selling this shit. TELL THE STORES TO STOP SELLING IT. NOW

Will not be buying Boars Head ANYMORE....

Get good ppl working there. Not cheapest labor.

in my career, I was a restaurant manager. There is no way in hell, I would’ve left my restaurants to get into such a horrible condition, I quit first. To me the plant manager definitely was in the wrong because he should’ve said something, and did something. No lots of people added a job because of the plant manager and the inspectors guarantee you they were in one another’s pocket that’s exactly what happens.

This job requires a very professional strict person. Every day.

That man replaced the word illiteracy with affluence.

. *God Bless this* . *Former Boar's Head Sanitation Manager !!!* . . *HE OUTSHINES THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT. BIG TIME.*

The former sanitation manager is way too late speaking out about it.

I proudly worked for an American meat plant... I've been in the plant clean. I talked to some men that worked sanitation/ scrubdown. Toothbrush clean on stainless. One time they missed a spot of meat on a chain link. They had to work many hours longer to find what they missed (probably harmless). But they found it and scrubbed it with a Toothbrush. I can't believe a high dollar brand like hogshead would be that dirty, hard to believe.

Meat slicer is $120 on Amazon… all deli meat is way overpriced. My roast beef and smoked turkey is absolutely better than Boars Head.

FDA has an office inside general mills. Each morning before startup after the santization process they inspect and give the ok to start running product again. Why wasnt this done at boarshead

People died because of their greed/ negligence. There is no excuse for this level of apathy towards others lives.

If true this is disgusting and I thank the former san manager for speaking out but I expect he's going to be sued by Board Head tomorrow. Flaws in sanitation need to be corrected and CHECKED. Nine people died? This is disgusting and horrible and this is the U.S.?

This is nasty and horrifying!!!

I’ve never heard of Boars Head until all this happened.

They would rather make their customers sick by saving money on sanitation costs. It's a scary world we live in.

I haven’t eaten cold cuts in years. People need to stop buying this ultra processed food.

9 people died and this guy let's out a chuckle??? Huge mistake to have that guy in such a crucial position

Sounds like management and employees were used to doing things the way they always did it, and the fiflth gradually built up.

obvious reminders that steps are there for a reason and yes, if you complain you do become a target for mgmnt - that shouldnt be the case

Meat build up on the walls is q pretty terrible image. Maybe we should stop rolling back regulations and enforcement. Just a thought. Maybe don’t have corporations be able to have more influence than the American people….

Blatantly ignore the warning signs until something disastrous happens short-sighted and greedy a story that repeats itself endlessly in the corporate world.

What is they hired people AND paid them but they did a lousy job of cleaning the equipment?? Oh and the union protected them!

We still have law that prohibits the recording of the meat factories, the inspectors are a joke. Needs to be independent and frequent monitoring.

Having worked in grocery stores, BH isnt the first massive sanitation issues. If you see a huge empty slot, that immediately means recall on products. I remember seeing a lot of issues all the time, including the ready to eat meals and baby products

Imagine how widespread situations like this if we had little to no no regulations. They protect the consumers.

If they were doing their jobs the right way they would have been cleaning constantly and not worry about a one week notice before inspection. Upper management is to blame. They had one job and still couldn’t get it right. Watch how fast upper management starts blaming someone else because they take no accountability for their actions. I see major lawsuits coming.

The missing 'a' in the company sign is for 'apathy'

1:16 is he “Effluent Enough?” 😂

I never could understand why that 💩cost so much 💸💸🤔

The inspectors may have been bought and paid for (JUST MY OPINION)

hope a boars head competitor can jump on this opportunity to give us better products

Cheap labor caused this and the deaths 😢😢😢

this is why voting for adults is important. Regulations were loosened during the Tr*mp Administration, which directly lead to this condition and the ensuing bacterial outbreak. Regulations are built on blood, not out of whimsy or being anti-capitalist.

The only way this can happen is because of the USDA not doing their jobs. I worked in that department (sanitation) and they'll come in and inspect and test the equipment. Even drains. If there was even a day old piece of lettuce anywhere we could not start up. A lot of times USDA didn't even care and half the time it looked like they didn't even wanna be there.