Boar's Head discontinues product and closes facility “indefinitely” in connection with listeria outbreak

Boar's Head announced Friday that it would close the Virginia manufacturing facility linked to the deadly listeria outbreak “indefinitely.”

“Given the severity of the outbreak and the fact that it originated in Jarratt, we have made the difficult decision to close this site indefinitely,” the company said. The site was shut down at the end of July.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company's Jarratt facility has been linked to meat sliced ​​at the deli counters, including Boar's Head brand liver sausage, which caused the largest listeria outbreak since 2011.

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As of Aug. 8, 57 people from 18 states have been infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria, all of whom have been hospitalized. Nine people have died — one in Illinois, one in New Jersey, one in Virginia, one in Florida, one in Tennessee, one in New Mexico, one in New York and two in South Carolina, according to the CDC's latest update.

Boar's Head meat is displayed at a Safeway store in San Rafael, California on July 31. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)

“Under these circumstances, we consider a plant closure to be the most sensible option,” the company said.

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The company also announced that it would permanently cease production of its liver sausage product manufactured at the Jarratt plant.

The decision came after Boar's Head “identified the root cause of the contamination in a specific production process that existed only at the Jarratt facility and was used exclusively for liver sausage.”

On July 31, a recall notice is placed next to Boar's Head meat on display at a Safeway store in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The company said it is immediately implementing enhanced food safety and quality measures, including the appointment of a new director of food safety and quality assurance who will report directly to Boar's Head's president.

The company is currently looking for employees for this position.

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Boar's Head will also establish a Boar's Head Food Safety Council, comprised of independent, industry-leading food safety experts, some of whom assisted with the listeria investigation.

A Boar's Head deli counter is seen at a grocery store in Athens, Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The task of this body will be to support the company in introducing and implementing improved quality assurance programs and creating a new industry standard for food safety.

They will also act as advisors to the new Chief Food Safety Officer and the company.