WASHINGTON- New information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 25 confirmed that a tenth person died from the Listeria outbreak connected to Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. products in Virginia.

The agency said the latest death was the second in the state of New York. The CDC also reported two additional illnesses since its last update on Aug. 28, which brought the total to 59 illness cases in 19 states.

All 59 people were hospitalized, and sick people’s samples were collected from May 29 to Aug. 28.

The other previous deaths occurred in Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Virginia and two in South Carolina.

CDC first opened its Listeria investigation on July 19. After that, Boar’s Head initially issued a recall on July 26 of more than 200,000 lbs of liverwurst product along with other ready-to-eat deli meat products. Within a few days, the company expanded the recall to include 7 million additional lbs of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.

Earlier this month, Boar’s Head announced it would close its Jarratt, Va., plant, which has not been operating since July, following a Listeria outbreak. About 500 people worked at the Jarratt facility.

“This is a dark moment in our company’s history, but we intend to use this as an opportunity to enhance food safety programs not just for our company but for the entire industry,” Boar’s Head said in a statement.

The meat processor said its investigation identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt plant, which was used to produce liverwurst. Boar’s Head has since discontinued liverwurst production at all plants permanently.

Documents from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicated new details about food safety protocol going back two years at the Jarratt facility. While the USDA earlier disclosed 69 instances of noncompliance between Aug. 1, 2023, and Aug. 2, 2024, at the Jarratt facility, a more recently released report revealed violations as early as 2022. The second round of inspection citations covered the period between January 2022 and June 2023. One note from the USDA categorized the facility as an “imminent threat” before the outbreak.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) recently sent a letter asking the USDA to work closely with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether to bring criminal charges against Boar’s Dead for this outbreak.

“We also urge the agency to initiate reforms to prevent similar situations from recurring at other facilities,” Blumenthal and DeLauro wrote. “In particular, the agency should revisit its regulations requiring establishments to test for Listeria in the processing environment and consider ways to strengthen those requirements, including revisiting the agency’s 2000 proposed rule requiring minimum sampling for Listeria on food contact surfaces.

Along with outbreak investigations, Boar’s Head continues to face several lawsuits including wrongful death lawsuits.