WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Nearly 10 million pounds of meat have been recalled because of potential listeria contamination.
It started in July, when Boar’s Head deli meats first announced a recall tied to listeria. The listeria outbreak has led to the death of 10 people and sickened dozens more. It has since expanded to include meat distributed by BrucePac, an Oklahoma-based pre-cooked meat producer.
Maria Rupena is the manager of Rupena’s Fine Foods, a small family-owned store in West Allis.
“We instantly pulled everything we had, and Boar’s Head was very good. They came in and took it out right away, got rid of it,” Rupena said.
Rupena was told by representatives from Boar’s Head that the listeria outbreak was linked to one plant in Virginia, and that her store did not receive meat from that plant. Still, she was not willing to risk exposing customers to sickness.
“We are all about safety, cleanliness and making sure everything is fresh, so I said, ‘Let’s get it all out. I don’t want it,’” Rupena said. “So, we were empty. We were empty for a while. “
Since the initial outbreak, several larger stores including Aldi, Amazon Fresh, Giant Eagle, H-E-B, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Wegmans and 7-Eleven have been directly impacted.
The USDA reported that these products have also been distributed to schools. A distribution list, available here, shows which schools around the country received the recalled meat.
There is only one Wisconsin school on that list: Inspire Early Childhood Learning in Waunakee, Wis.
Wisconsin Grocers Association President and CEO Michael Semmann said when outbreaks like this happen, communication plays a key role in containing the outbreak.
“There’s a great information flow, typically from manufacturers, from the regulators, and as soon they receive that information, they take action through food safety protocols,” Semmann said.
Semmann said those protocols include making sure all potentially affected products are pulled from shelves, areas are cleaned thoroughly and customers know about the outbreak.
“We have come a long way to protect the consumer and the response is much more rapid than it used to be. That information is moving almost at an instant,” Semmann said.
Traceability resources allow producers, manufacturers and distributors to track products as they make their way down the supply chain.
Semmann said this allows everyone involved to track products and alert both retailers and consumers when an outbreak occurs.
Rupena said even though her store did not have any meat tied to the listeria outbreak, the whole ordeal has still had a negative impact on her business, as many shoppers are hesitant to purchase deli products.
“I do know that our deli meat count, what we served, is lower and it really dropped [when the outbreak first occurred],” Rupena said.
While she is disappointed this happened, she also said she is relieved Boar’s Head reimbursed her for lost product.
She said she is still trying to reassure all of her customers that what they’re buying at the store is safe.
“We would never serve you something we would not serve ourselves. So if I felt it was unsafe, it would not be in there,” Rupena said.