# Will anybody want to buy anything from Boar's Head again? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232 "2024-09-13T20:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/1 "2024-09-13T20:07:22Z")
[Boar’s Head will close its Jarratt, Virginia plant](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/13/health/boars-head-virginia-plant-closure-recall/index.html) in response to a listeria outbreak and a devastating inspection report by the USDA that contradicts the company’s longtime marketing campaign as a high-end purveyor of deli meats, cheeses, and condiments that warranted being sold for a premium price. I don’t know if other Boar’s Head plants will follow suit but I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve bought stuff from Boar’s Head and survived with no ill effects but I doubt I’ll buy anything from them again. The company now has a reputation for having a slapdash attitude toward food safety and sanitation that seems impossible to overcome. Does anybody here feel the same? > **[Boar’s Head to close Virginia plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/13/health/boars-head-virginia-plant-closure-recall/index.html)** > > Boar’s Head will close the Virginia plant that produced deli meat products tied to a deadly listeria outbreak, the company said on Friday. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/2 "2024-09-13T20:14:34Z")
Long ago, while I was still active duty in the Air Force, Boar’s Head was the primary provider for the deli departments across the Defense Commissary system, so their products were what you bought when you bought deli goodies. I don’t know anything about whether this is still true, but I would be reticent to buy Boar’s Head any longer, knowing what I know now. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/3 "2024-09-13T20:14:34Z")
I’d imagine that from now on they’re going to be extra scrupulous with all the added attention. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/4 "2024-09-13T20:19:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Boar’s Head said it will permanently discontinue sales of liverwurst after an investigation found its production process was the root cause of the listeria contamination. I wonder what it is about the liverwurst production that was so bad; why was that so different from, say, making bratwurst? I’m going to make an educated guess that liverwurst was a HUGE part of production in this facility, and permanently discontinuing manufacture and sales, upper upper management said “it ain’t worth it to fix this place up.” I hope that as part of this, whoever was in charge of that facility was fired, as was their boss. Those allegations (going back to 2022!) are pretty nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/5 "2024-09-13T20:25:23Z")
It could be quite a while until I can bring myself to buy Boar’s Head again. A shame, because Publix only carries BH pastrami and liverwurst. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/6 "2024-09-13T20:29:34Z")
I’d buy Boar’s Head without giving it a second thought. I doubt any of their competitors are any better. (I don’t eat liverwurst, but I do like ham) ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/7 "2024-09-13T20:29:47Z")
They always sold themselves as the premium brand. I don’t do lunch meat, but their hot dogs were a guilty treat. They’ve got a long way to go to rebuild their image. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/8 "2024-09-13T20:35:51Z")
It’s not premium. It’s mid level crap. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/9 "2024-09-13T20:36:09Z")
I don’t think we get them up here, but I certainly wouldn’t go near them. The most damning fact is that the problems were exposed two years ago and they did nothing. And it shows what can happen if you don’t regulate at all, which is what one of our parties would like. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/10 "2024-09-13T20:36:25Z")
I don’t think they’ll recover as a Premium brand, no. The people who have sufficient discretionary income to afford to pay more have other options. They’ll just become another option, assuming there isn’t (big assumption!) additional fallout and massive lawsuits from those directly injured. Because the summaries of the reports I’ve read indicate a massive amount of negligence, and I’m sure that it would make lurid reading in a civil court. If I were Boar’s Head, I’d be looking to settle generously. I guess they could also rebrand, or acquire/be acquired by someone else and try again under “new management” and a different name. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/11 "2024-09-13T20:39:11Z")
I only buy their turkey & chicken products, never liverwurst or ham or any of the tainted products made in that factory, so I have no problem buying from them. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/12 "2024-09-13T20:42:43Z")
Like I said–I don’t do lunchmeat, but what are the options? Fresh turkey breast at Whole Foods? We do have a good local butcher so sausages are no problem, but even the local Organic Co-op sells BH organic cold cuts (as well as Applegate). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/13 "2024-09-13T20:50:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’d imagine that from now on they’re going to be extra scrupulous with all the added attention. Or maybe they’ll figure that anyone who is still buying their product isn’t affected by reports of code violations so they can lower their standards even further. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/14 "2024-09-13T21:08:59Z")
I do not consume their products, but I would reckon after this event, given the circumstances of the egregious health inspection reports, the number of illnesses and deaths - the “Boar’s Head” name will not be in circulation much longer. I expect a rebranding out of this. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/15 "2024-09-13T21:26:40Z")
In 2015, Blue Bell ice cream had a listeria outbreak that killed five people, forced a recall of all their products, shut down their factories for six months and got the former President and CEO brought up on charges. Today they’re doing just fine. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/16 "2024-09-13T21:31:06Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > _I expect a rebranding out of this._ So do I, but you can’t make a silk purse out of what has now been revealed as a sow’s ear, and I doubt that will save the company. Consumers thought of them as a higher-end, quality brand of lunch meat, but after this debacle, I can’t see ever trusting them again. Things like this should not happen in the 21st century, unlike they may have a hundred years ago. When he was a teenager in the 1920s, my father visited a Swift processing plant. Thereafter, to the day he died at 90 years old, he refused to eat anything made by Swift. “You wouldn’t believe what goes into their stuff!” he once told me. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/17 "2024-09-13T21:38:53Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > In 2015, Blue Bell ice cream had a listeria outbreak that killed five people, forced a recall of all their products, shut down their factories for six months and got the former President and CEO brought up on charges. > > Today they’re doing just fine Yep, same with Jack in the Box and Schwan’s Ice Cream (now called Yelloh to match the trucks). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/18 "2024-09-13T21:41:01Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Like I said–I don’t do lunchmeat, but what are the options? Krakus is our sliced ham of choice. They’re under the Smithfield umbrella but I don’t know what their distribution looks like. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/19 "2024-09-13T22:27:35Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’d imagine that from now on they’re going to be extra scrupulous with all the added attention. Until they’ve fired every manager from the CEO down to shop floor supervision AND replaced the entire BOD we have no reason to believe the culture of rampant cheating in oursuit of higher margins has been eradicated. Anybody can put a fresh coat of paint on a pig. The hard part is changing the pig underneath into a prince. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232/20 "2024-09-13T22:55:50Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I don’t think they’ll recover as a Premium brand, no. The people who have sufficient discretionary income to afford to pay more have other options. Also, the people _looking_ for a “Premium Brand” are much more likely to take the effort to find out what a provider’s record is. So the strategy of “don’t bother to fix anything just wait for people to forget” won’t work with them. The less interested or able people are to be choosy, the more they’ll be able to keep them as customers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-anybody-want-to-buy-anything-from-boars-head-again/1007232.md?page=2)