Class action lawsuit filed against Boar’s Head over listeria outbreak

ATLANTA — Boar’s Head is facing a national, class-action lawsuit in New York over their response to the listeria outbreak currently underway in the United States.

Channel 2 Action News previously reported when the company had to expand its recall from 200,000 pounds of impacted meat to more than 7 million pounds of meat.

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have issued warnings and recall notices about the outbreak, which has so far led to 34 infections and two deaths across the country. Two of the impacted Americans were from Georgia.

Now, the federal lawsuit against Boar’s Head, filed in court on Aug. 1, accuses the company of deceiving and misleading customers about its manufacturing, marketing and sales for the more than 70 products included in the recall notice. A comprehensive list of the products in the recall is maintained online by the USDA.

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The lawsuit says Boar’s Head “improperly, deceptively and misleadingly labeled and marketed its products to reasonable consumers by omitting and not disclosing to consumers on its packaging that the products are contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.”

An Atlanta doctor shared recommendations for how to avoid getting sick from eating deli meats amid the listeria outbreak and recall notice. Click here to learn more about how to ensure you can eat the meats safely.

According to court documents, the plaintiff in the lawsuit is accusing the company of using a marketing and advertising campaign that omits the presence of listeria on its packaging, saying that “consumers could only obtain such information by sending the products off to a laboratory for extensive testing,” and saying the lack of notice on the packaging was an omission.

The lawsuit also accuses Boar’s Head of designing their recall to reach “very few people and designed to benefit very few of the consumers who purchased” the potentially contaminated meats.

Now, the lawsuit seeks compensation in the form of refunds for consumers for the recalled products. It is the second lawsuit filed against Boar’s Head related to the listeria outbreak, which was first under investigation on July 19.

Boar’s Head has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit in New York in court.

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