Boar's Head Listeria Lawsuit: The 2024 Deli-Meat Outbreak

What Happened

In the summer of 2024, a listeria outbreak was traced to ready-to-eat deli meats from Boar’s Head. The outbreak sickened 61 people across 19 states, hospitalized 60 and killed 10, making it one of the deadliest listeria outbreaks in recent US history. Boar’s Head recalled more than 7 million pounds of product tied to its Jarratt, Virginia plant, which was then suspended and later closed indefinitely.

Federal inspectors subsequently attributed the outbreak in part to inadequate sanitation practices at the facility — findings that feature heavily in the litigation.

The Lawsuits

Two kinds of case followed. A consumer class action, filed in August 2024, seeks reimbursement for people who bought recalled product they had to throw away. Separately, individuals who became seriously ill, and the families of those who died, brought personal-injury and wrongful-death suits — the higher-stakes claims, which turn on linking a specific illness to the contaminated meat through medical and outbreak records.

The regulatory finding of sanitation failures gives those victims a documented basis for the negligence claims, though Boar’s Head’s ultimate liability is still being litigated.

What Consumers Should Know

Listeria is especially dangerous for pregnant people, older adults and those with weakened immune systems, and symptoms can appear weeks after exposure. Anyone who believes they were sickened should keep medical records and any product or purchase information. A consumer refund claim and a personal-injury claim are different tracks with very different value.