A listeria outbreak in pig's head has depressed demand for deli meats industry-wide — and experts warn that sales could stagnate for a year or more as consumers struggle to shake off worries about tainted deli meats.
The century-old Boar's Head brand — whose July listeria outbreak at a Virginia plant killed 10 people, sent dozens to the hospital and led to a recall of more than 7 million pounds of meat — did not disclose the impact of the disaster on Her works.
But Avi Kanner, co-owner of the Morton Williams chain in New York City, said deli meat sales at his 20 stores across the metro area were down 33% at the chain while the Boar's Head brand was down 50%.
Grocery shoppers “have shifted their purchasing habits to other brands — and that's big,” Kanner told The Post.
Another New York grocery executive who did not want to be identified said that some New York supermarkets have stopped promoting Boar's Head products in their weekly flyers.
“It will take a lot to regain consumer confidence because this accident killed a lot of people,” the executive said.
“I didn't want to promote a product or company under investigation in our posts, so I was promoting my own brand,” the executive added. “But it's still slow because people worry about cold cuts and the pig's head is the leader, and when the leader gets in trouble, everyone else does.”
Meanwhile, sales at Thumann's — a 75-year-old family-owned brand based in Carlstadt, New Jersey — are down 10% since August, CEO Robert Burke told The Post. This is despite Thumann obtaining new accounts with distributors and retailers who had abandoned Boar's Head.
Thumann's posted disclaimers on its website and social media and bought ads to make clear that its products are “not involved” in the recent recall of fresh meat slices, said Burke — who declined to reveal how many new accounts the company has acquired. “
“We wanted to get the message across that we're a brand you can trust, and even Boar's Head kind of squandered that,” Burke told The Post in an exclusive interview. “We spent more on media costs to get the word out.”
Some retailers have also divested from Boar's Head in an attempt to salvage their prepared foods sales. Schnucks Markets, which operates 114 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, switched to Boar's Head competitor Dietz & Watson this month, the company announced.
Schnucks was named in a lawsuit against Boar's Head by a customer who became ill after eating allegedly contaminated meat.
“Many customers have expressed concerns about continuing to purchase prepackaged Boar's Head products after they were recalled this summer,” Natalie Jablonski, Schnucks' director of communications, told The Post. “By moving to Dietz & Watson, we are putting our customers first.”
Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson did not return calls for comment, but its CEO, Louis Ene, narrates a several-minute video about food safety on the company's website. “You can trust our brand,” he promises, adding that “all of our facilities are cleaned by professional third-party sanitation companies.”
Even caterers are being criticized.
“Caterers emphasize on their menus that their meat is house-made and hand-carved,” says food and restaurant consultant Arlene Spiegel. “There's a lot of interest in sandwich-based menus right now.”
Sandwich chains have really been hurting this year. Customer traffic to sandwich chains including Subway, Jersey Mike's, Potbelly, Arby's, Jimmy John's, Panera and others has slowed this year and is steady to decline, according to foodservice research firm Technomic.
Some of these chains have placed signs on their doors informing customers not to use Boar's Head products.
“It's difficult to know whether consumers pulled out because of food safety, which is more broadly on the minds of consumers today,” or because of food inflation, says David Hinks, president of strategic partners at Technomic.
It could take up to a year or more for deli meat sales to recover given how consumers have responded to other deadly epidemics, according to food safety attorney Bill Marler.
The Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993, which killed four children and infected hundreds of others, affected hamburger sales across the board for more than a year.
A 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach killed three people and infected hundreds, causing spinach sales to decline for more than a year, Marler said.
“It has devastated the entire spinach industry,” Marler said.
