Boar’s Head faces legal scrutiny over deadly deli meat listeria outbreak, USDA says WSOC TV [Video]

Boar’s Head, the deli meat company at the center of a deadly listeria food poisoning outbreak, is being scrutinized by law enforcement officials, the U.S. Agriculture Department disclosed in response to government records requests.

Officials with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service refused to share documents regarding the agency’s inspections and enforcement at the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Virginia, plus inspection reports from eight other company factories across the U.S.

The records — which FSIS acknowledged include dozens of pages of documentation — were withheld because they were compiled “for a law enforcement purpose, which includes both civil and criminal statutes,” according to a letter sent Friday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by The Associated Press. Releasing the records could “interfere with” and “hinder” the government’s investigation, the letter said.

The AP asked for records regarding the listeria outbreak that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and …