Schnucks switches deli meat purveyors following deadly Boar’s Head Listeria outbreak

A deadly Listeria outbreak is prompting Schnucks Markets to switch deli meat suppliers, the St. Louis-based grocer announced Wednesday. 

The conversion from Boar’s Head to Dietz & Watson will take place in early November and should be complete by early December, the grocer said.

Schnucks Markets said in an email to Supermarket News that customers “made it clear” they had concerns putting Boar’s Head products back into their shopping carts following the Listeria outbreak that killed 10 people and hospitalized dozens more, making it the deadliest Listeria outbreak in over a decade.

Schnucks Markets is also named in a lawsuit against Boar’s Head in which Sue Fleming of High Ridge, Mo., alleges she became “deathly ill” and was hospitalized with a Listeria infection after purchasing and eating the company’s liverwurst. Fleming is suing for $25,000 in damages.

As the new Dietz & Watson products are introduced, Schnucks will launch enhanced marketing and promotional programs, including special customer pricing and expanded sampling opportunities, the retailer said. 

Schnucks operates 114 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Boar’s Head is facing two more lawsuits over the Listeria outbreak.

Morgan & Morgan has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Boar’s Head and Publix Supermarkets on behalf of the family of Otis Adams Jr., who died in May after allegedly eating Boar’s Head ham purchased from a Tampa-area Publix store. This is the first lawsuit to allege that the Listeria infection was contracted from a product other than the company’s liverwurst.

Adams’ wife, Judith, allegedly purchased Boar’s Head Tavern Ham and Boar’s Head Yellow American Cheese from a Publix in Brooksville, Fla., on two separate occasions in April. Otis Adams became sick in late April and was hospitalized on May 2 diagnosed with listeriosis, which progressed over the next two days into meningitis and sepsis. Otis Adams died on May 5.

The largest lawsuit against Boar’s Head is a $48 million suit filed by Robert Roposa of Smithfield, Va. He claims he became “frighteningly ill” due to consuming Boar’s Head meat products.

A separate lawsuit filed on Aug. 1 could turn into a class action. That suit accuses Boar’s Head of improperly, deceptively, and misleadingly labeling and marketing its products by failing to communicate the full extent of the possible Listeria contamination.

A lawsuit filed last week by a Palm Beach County, Fla., couple accuses Boar’s Head and Publix in Delray Beach of negligence and product liability.

The lawsuit claims Michael Silberman suffered from meningitis, encephalitis, renal failure, muscle atrophy, and cognitive impairment because of a Listeria infection after he allegedly ate Boar’s Head turkey.

Boar’s Head recalled 7 million pounds of meat in July after it was linked to the Listeria outbreak.