After several deaths and a huge recall, can Boar’s Head save his species?

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Recently, food recalls have been on the rise—much more than they have been since before the pandemic—but the Hog’s Head recall has been cut above, at least in terms of the attention it’s received.

Part of the problem for the highly regarded deli meat retailer is that recall feels like an issue. It was announced in July, initially referring to Boar’s Head liverwurst and a few other types of its edible meat that “could be adulterated with. Listeria monocytogenes,” said the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the following weeks, i Listeria The outbreak has been linked to nine deaths and dozens of hospitalizations in 18 states. The recall grew to include 7 million pounds of meat; many charges were filed.

In August, the release of related USDA documents provided a new helping of unpleasant headlines about “bugs, mold, and mildew” in the Boar’s Head industry related to the outbreak. A spokesperson responded while the company disinfected the Jarratt, Virginia plant, which has been idle since the recall began; and retraining its staff, promising that the facility will remain closed “until it reaches the highest quality and safety standards.”

But this week, Boar’s Head announced that, in fact, that facility will be closing permanently (affecting about 500 employees, a result of the economy in the city); and the company will stop selling liverwurst altogether. It was as if Boeing responded to the grounding of the 737 Max by simply ending the product line.

In response to a question from Fast companyBoar’s head pointed to a lengthy public statement we issued in July, with updates added in August and September. It says: “This is a dark time in our company’s history. “But we intend to use this as an opportunity to improve food safety programs not only in our company, but in the entire industry.” The company said it will hire a chief food safety and quality assurance officer, reporting directly to its president, and establish a “food safety council” made up of “leading experts in food safety.”

It’s unclear how that will play out—or what that will mean for Boar’s Head’s larger brand. The company has been at pains to emphasize that some of its plants and a variety of other treats and various other food products are not tainted by the Boar’s Head recall. And a Sarasota, Florida-based company (privately held, but reportedly bringing in more than $1 billion in annual revenue) the lot of products beyond liverwurst. Since 1905, it is a very familiar type, created not only because of a strong diet of mouth-watering advertising, but also because of the symbol that seems to be everywhere in the store that has made it the basis of many counters and stores—some of which affect the availability of the product or prevent complaints when it is replaced or lost.

But it is precisely this familiarity, which has, no doubt, contributed to the spread. An episode of a public radio show 1A earlier this week it was linked to the recall of the Pig’s Head—but the conversation quickly changed sign to a portal to address the many systemic challenges with managing the food supply and addressing consumer confidence in regulators and food producers alike. Darin Detwiler, a professor at Northeastern University and a food safety expert, suggested that regulators should have acted sooner while also pointing out that Boar’s Head was an example of a reliable product. This was not just its premium placement, but because it has been around, and trusted, for more than a century. It predates modern food regulation, and even The forestthe epic muckraker novel that revolutionized consumer safety. To call this a “dark moment,” Detwiler suggests, seems like an understatement.

Then again, that long history could end up helping Boar’s Head, as food brands have overcome other deadly episodes before. An outbreak of E. Coli in 1993 that killed four children (one of them was Detwiler) followed by Jack in the Box restaurants. This was a disaster for the company, which paid millions to settle lawsuits and became the poster child for lax safety standards. But looking back at the episode of the following years, one marketing and communication executive who participated in the gradual recovery of this series said that the key is not just in communication or hiring an independent food safety expert (which he did), but actually following through with the truth. changes in its procedures. “To this day, their food safety standards are more stringent than anyone else in the industry,” the executive said in a 2015 interview. “You can’t use PR or a message from the heart.”

Some consumers who actually remember that episode may still be a little suspicious of Jack in the Box, but there is one thing: time passes without incident. In the short term, Boar’s Head may be able to hang on to its existing reputation. But ultimately, it must wait for bad news to fade from the headlines—and avoid causing more. In part that means making sure its processes live up to a carefully crafted brand image. But in the end, its consumers who will decide whether it is still worth paying more for the product than the unknown deli ham because they believe it is better (and safer). If more problems emerge that suggest this isn’t just a liverwurst problem, those consumers may be hungry for alternatives.