Boar’s Head closes Virginia plant, discontinues liverwurst

Calling the past few months a “dark moment in our company’s history,” Sarasota-based meat provision company Boar’s Head announced a pair of big steps in its food contamination-listeria crisis: It’s permanently discontinuing liverwurst, the product contaminated with listeria, and it’s also indefinitely closing the Jarratt, Virginia, plant where the liverwurst was made. 

“Our investigation has identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt facility and was used only for liverwurst,” the company says in a Friday afternoon statement. 

Closing the plant, which has not been operational since late July, will lead to several hundred layoffs, the company says. “It pains us to impact the livelihoods of hundreds of hard-working employees," the company says. “We do not take lightly our responsibility as one of the area’s largest employers. But, under the circumstances, we feel that a plant closure is the most prudent course. We will work to assist each of our employees in the transition process.”