SARASOTA, FLA. — Boar’s Head Brand stated on Feb. 13 that it would pause operations for a company-wide initiative called “Boar’s Head Food Safety Promise Day.”

The event, which comes as the meat processor continues to recover from the impact of the Listeria outbreak in 2024, focuses on the new and enhanced food safety and sanitation controls and processes used throughout Boar’s Head facilities.

Frank Yiannas, MPH, chief food safety advisor for Boar’s Head and former deputy commissioner for food response at the US Food and Drug Administration, detailed some of the company’s steps to recovery.

“From sourcing to production to delivery, Boar’s Head is implementing proactive safety measures at every step in making safe, high-quality food, and today everyone at Boar’s Head is doubling down on this promise to consumers,” Yiannas said. “Since last year’s recall and the examination into its cause, Boar’s Head has employed a series of leading-edge interventions and programs to further strengthen food safety protocols and to maintain the trusted quality that customers expect from the Boar’s Head brand.”

Yiannis said in a Q&A provided by Boar’s Head that the company will hold a moment of silence remembering those who were hurt and harmed and unveil a symbolic eternal food safety flame to convey that “they will stay passionately focused on food safety and never let that passion go out.”

Boar’s Head also plans to put in a new layer of production practices with high-pressure pasteurization, water pasteurization and in some cases adding a natural ingredient proven to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria such as Listeria.

Boar’s Head published a letter citing the protection layer known as USDA’s Alternative 2 Listeria control requirements.

“The move to an even stricter higher standard such as Alternative 2 means that once that deli meat is cooked, while strict sanitation is going to be adhered to and followed, even higher levels of safety are being used in the production process to prevent recontamination or to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria,” Yiannas said in the Q&A.

Other commitments made by Boar’s Head in the letter included increased Listeria sampling across all of its facilities while also investing in cutting-edge laboratory testing and analysis technologies.

“Our sanitation team has undergone additional third-party training, and we’ve bolstered daily cleaning and sanitation procedures,” Boar’s Head said in the letter. “This includes hours each day dedicated to top-to-bottom cleaning and sanitizing of all manufacturing equipment, surfaces and plant environments. Regular audits ensure the effectiveness of these practices.”

Last month, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) released a new report detailing “inadequate sanitation practices” at the Jarratt, Va., facility operated by Boar’s Head in 2024.

Previous updates by public health officials stated 10 people died and 60 people were hospitalized during the outbreak. In its final update on the case, the agency said 61 people in 19 states became ill from Listeria.

In September 2024, Boar’s Head  shuttered the Jarratt plant as the Listeria reports continued to come out around the country. It also formed a food safety council, which Yiannas was hired to lead.