Safe Food Coalition Urges Transparency in USDA Boar’s Head Investigation

Members of the Safe Food Coalition sent the following letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Under Secretary for Food Safety Emilio Esteban, urging the officials to share the details of the "top to bottom" investigation that officials have promised to conduct into how conditions were allowed to deteriorate at the Boar's Head deli meat processing plant in Jarratt, Virginia. An outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to the establishment has so far caused 10 deaths and 59 hospitalizations across 19 states. In the letter, the groups request that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) make publicly available the agency's review of the company policies and procedures that may have contributed to the tragedy, including the process and personnel that led to the agency taking no enforcement action after FSIS inspectors determined that the Boar's Head plant posed an "imminent threat" to public health.