Federal inspectors will assume direct oversight of a troubled Boar's Head deli meat plant when it reopens after last year's deadly listeria outbreak, U.S. Agriculture Department officials said.
The Jarratt, Virginia, factory is set to resume operations in the coming months. It will face at least 90 days of heightened monitoring and inspections by federal Food Safety and Inspection Service officials. Previously, inspections were conducted by state officials who operated on behalf of the agency.
The change aims to “ensure the establishment consistently and effectively implements its corrected food safety plans,” USDA officials said in a statement. It calls for stricter enforcement if lapses occur.
The plant was shuttered nearly a year ago when listeria-tainted liverwurst caused the outbreak that killed 10 people, sickened dozens and forced a recall of more than 7 million pounds of deli products. USDA officials lifted the plant's suspension in July.
In the years before the outbreak, state inspectors documented numerous problems at the plant, including mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment, records showed. They were operating under a cooperative agreement, the Talmadge-Aiken program, that allows state inspectors to conduct federal inspections.
The shift to direct federal oversight underscores the severity of the problems at the Boar's Head plant, said Sandra Eskin, a former USDA official who now heads STOP Foodborne Illness, a consumer advocacy group. It raises concerns about communication between state and federal officials when problems occur, she added.
“Given its history, it's particularly important that there be robust oversight of that plant,” Eskin said.
Boar's Head officials said in a statement that they have worked with state and federal regulators “to ensure the successful and safe reopening of the Jarratt facility.”
The company said it has boosted food safety practices in Jarratt and other sites aimed at reducing or eliminating listeria in finished products.
The company has declined to comment on documents obtained by The Associated Press that showed that sanitation problems persist at other Boar's Head sites in three states.
Between January and July, inspectors in Arkansas, Indiana and a second site in Virginia reported problems that include instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, drains blocked with meat products, beaded condensation on ceilings and floors, overflowing trash cans and staff who didn’t wear protective hairnets and plastic aprons or wash their hands.
Officials at the 120-year-old company based in Sarasota, Florida, hired a chief food safety officer in May. It also brought in a panel of experts, including Mindy Brashears, a food safety expert nominated by President Donald Trump for a second term as the USDA's undersecretary for food safety.
Brashears, who now directs a food safety center at Texas Tech University, did not respond to requests for comment about Boar's Head. An automatic email reply said she was traveling out of the country until next week.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - A sign marks the entrance of the Boar's Head processing plant in Jarratt, Va., on Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
In Friday's case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Yoon’s defense team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
