A Small Town Gets an Uncomfortable Spotlight After the Boar’s Head Recall

Alexander Stith said the Boar’s Head deli meat plant in Jarratt, Va., is the economic heart of the small rural town. He had trouble counting the number of people he knew who work or had worked there.

So when he read reports that nine deaths from listeria infection had been linked to the facility, he grimaced.

“It’s a tragedy that started here,” said Mr. Stith, 64. “There’s so many people around here who work there. And it’s going to deeply affect us.”

The national spotlight on the plant has created a sense of unease in Jarratt and larger neighboring towns, where residents said good-paying jobs are hard to come by. Some said they feared what would happen to the plant after a federal investigation found black mold, water dripping over meat, puddles of blood and dead flies there.

“I mean, look around at Jarratt, there’s not much here already,” said Melanie Prescott, whose daughter works at the facility. “So if that plant closes, a lot of people are going to be out of work.”

On July 25, liverwurst from the Jarratt Boar’s Head plant was recalled. A few days later, the company expanded the recall to include all the meat processed there. Boar’s Head has said that it is “deeply sorry,” and that it is working with top food safety experts to determine the cause of the problem, which it said was “limited to a single process” at the plant, one of several the company operates. Boar’s Head could not be reached for comment on Saturday.