VIDEO — ‘That’s Scary’: Boar’s Head Recalls over 207K Pounds of Meat amid Listeria Fears

Boar’s Head is recalling over 207,000 pounds of deli meat due to a possible listeria contamination that officials are investigating.

The meats include liverwurst and ham products that are available for purchase across the nation, NBC News reported on Friday.

“The company initiated the recall after liverwurst at a store in Maryland tested positive for listeria. The sample was collected as part of an investigation into a multistate listeria outbreak that had sickened 34 people across 13 states as of Thursday,” the outlet noted, adding all of those individuals except one were hospitalized.

One person in Illinois and another individual in New Jersey died.

A customer told ABC 6 she usually buys Boar’s Head products, but the outbreak has her concerned. “That’s scary. That’s pretty scary, because since I didn’t hear about it, it subjects me to be sick and have an adverse reaction,” she said:

The outbreak is most likely connected to sliced meat from deli counters because many of the people affected said they ate turkey, liverwurst, or ham, health officials noted.

The NBC report continued:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which announced the recall Friday, said further testing is ongoing to determine if the Maryland sample is connected to the outbreak.

The recall includes Boar’s Head ready-to-eat liverwurst produced from June 11 to July 17 (view the product labels here), as well as other deli meat products that were manufactured on the same machinery around the same time, such as beef salami, bologna and ham.

A spokesperson with Boar’s Head explained the company is investigating the matter while also working with authorities on the case.

Consumers who purchased the affected products are advised to throw them in the trash or return them to the store. In addition, they were advised to clean out their refrigerators to prevent any possible bacteria from growing and spreading.

Listeria can survive being in a refrigerator and freezing temperatures, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that when a person eats food contaminated with listeria and becomes ill from it, the condition is called listeriosis.

“Listeria are most likely to sicken people who are pregnant and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill,” the agency said.