Don’t Eat Sliced Deli Meats or These Boar’s Head Packaged Meats for Now Due to Listeria Risk

“If you are in one of these high-risk groups, and have a Boar’s Head packaged meat product in your refrigerator and can’t tell if it’s recalled or not, or if you just want to play it safe until the outbreak is over, throw it out,” says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety research and testing at CR. Any recalled product can also be returned to the store where you purchased it for a full refund. 

After disposing of any recalled meat (and any deli-sliced meat of unknown origin), you should also thoroughly clean your refrigerator and any surfaces the meat has touched, advises Sana Mujahid, PhD, manager of food safety research and testing at CR. 

Especially for people in at-risk groups, also avoiding all meats sliced at the deli counter and all deli sandwiches for now is the safest bet. That’s because Boar’s Head deli meats associated with this recall that are cut on a slicer at a grocery store, deli, or bodega could contaminate the equipment and countertop surfaces, and spread easily to other deli meats, as well as to cheese and leafy greens, Rogers says.

Elizabeth Ward, spokesperson for Boar’s Head confirmed that of the 72 products recalled (see a full list), the following are those sold in the U.S. as prepackaged products on store shelves. (Many of the recalled items are meats sliced behind a deli counter.)

These packaged products will have “EST. 12612” or “P-12612” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels. Note that some product details were not yet available at the time of publication.

So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the outbreak has caused 34 illnesses, with 33 people who have been hospitalized and two people who have died. Those who were sickened were located in New York (12), Maryland (6), Georgia (2), Massachusetts (2), Missouri (2), New Jersey (2), Virginia (2), Illinois (1), Indiana (1), Minnesota (1), North Carolina (1), Pennsylvania (1), and Wisconsin (1).

The true number of people (and states) affected by this outbreak may be greater, the CDC says, because some people may fall ill without being tested for listeria, and others may not yet be showing symptoms. 

Those symptoms can include fever, and experiencing muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Listeriosis affects about 1,600 people a year in the U.S., according to the CDC. For an otherwise healthy adult, listeriosis will typically resolve on its own within a few days. But for those who are pregnant, listeriosis poses a special risk: They are 10 times more likely than other adults to get a listeria infection. And the consequences can be devastating: About 20 percent of pregnant people infected with listeria will lose their baby, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). 

Listeriosis can also cause premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn, the CDC says. 

One problem is that listeriosis symptoms—fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea—are similar to morning sickness, so a person might not be diagnosed as having the infection until it has spread. 

If you’re pregnant and have those symptoms, along with a temperature of 100.6° F or higher, ask your doctor for a blood test, ACOG recommends.