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Boar’s Head recall expands to include 7 million pounds of deli meat over listeria concerns

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A woman browses the meat aisle at a supermarket in Montebello, California, on May 15, 2024.

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A recall of Boar’s Head products has expanded to include a whopping 7 million additional pounds of deli and poultry items in a deadly multistate outbreak of listeria infections.

As of Tuesday, 34 people have gotten sick across 13 states in the outbreak — including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths. The fatalities were a patient in Illinois and another in New Jersey.

Last week, the deli meat company had recalled more than 207,000 pounds of deli meat, including liverwurst and ham products, because they may contain the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

Boar’s Head has now expanded that recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced in a press release Tuesday.

The expansion includes 71 products — including meat intended for slicing at delis, and some packaged meat and poultry products —produced from May 10 to July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country Brand names.

The products have “sell by” dates ranging from July 29 through Oct. 17 this year (view the recalled product labels here), and were distributed to retail locations nationwide, and some to Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama. 

Boar’s Head said in a statement on its website that it had initiated the recall after a liverwurst sample collected by the Maryland Department of Health had tested positive for listeria.

The Maryland Department of Health and Baltimore City Health Department collected an unopened liverwurst product from a retail store for further testing that determined the product sample “tested positive for the outbreak strain,” the USDA release said.

Boar’s Head said that the first voluntary recall was for its Strassburger Brand Liverwurst, and an additional nine products produced on the same production line at its Jarratt, Virginia, facility.

On Monday, the company said it learned from the USDA “that our Strassburger Brand Liverwurst has been linked to the national deli meat Listeria monocytogenes outbreak” — and as a result the recall was expanded to include all items produced at the Jarratt facility.

“We have also decided to pause ready-to-eat operations at this facility until further notice. As a company that prioritizes safety and quality, we believe it is the right thing to do,” the company said.

“No words can fully express our sympathies and the sincere and deep hurt we feel for the families that have suffered losses and others who endured illness,” the statement added.

People who bought the recalled products should throw them away or return them to the store, and also clean out their refrigerators as the bacteria can grow in cold temperatures and spread to other foods.

An investigation is underway by the FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state public health partners. 

Listeria infection is a food borne bacterial illness, most commonly caused by eating improperly processed deli meats and unpasteurized milk products, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s the third-leading cause of death from food poisoning in the U.S.

Symptoms usually appear within two weeks of eating contaminated food, and include fever, muscle aches, tiredness, stiff neck and confusion. In severe cases, the bacteria may cause a blood infection or meningitis. The infection is dangerous for those who are older, with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women.

The CDC estimates that around 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die. Most cases aren’t linked to outbreaks, but there are usually a few outbreaks in a given year.

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Morgan Stanley picks China stocks to ride out a worst-case scenario in U.S. tensions

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Elon Musk endorses Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick for Treasury secretary

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Elon Musk at the tenth Breakthrough Prize ceremony held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

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On Saturday, Elon Musk shared who he is endorsing for Treasury secretary on X, a cabinet position President-elect Donald Trump has yet to announce his preference to fill.

Musk wrote that Howard Lutnick, Trump-Vance transition co-chair and CEO and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC Group and Newmark Group chairman, will “actually enact change.”

Lutnick and Key Square Group founder and CEO Scott Bessent are reportedly top picks to run the Treasury Department.

Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, also included his thoughts on Bessent in his post on X.

“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice,” he wrote.

“Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt so we need change one way or another,” he added.

Musk also stated it would be “interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback.”

Howard Lutnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, left, and Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a campaign event with former US President Donald Trump, not pictured, at Madison Square Garden in New York, US, on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.

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In a statement to Politico, Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt made it clear that the president-elect has not made any decisions regarding the position of Treasury secretary.

“President-elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second administration,” Leavitt said in a statement. “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”

Both Lutnick and Bessent have close ties to Trump. Lutnick and Trump have known each other for decades, and the CEO has even hosted a fundraiser for the president-elect.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Lutnick has already been helping Trump review candidates for cabinet positions in his administration.

On the other hand, Bessent was a key economic advisor to the president-elect during his 2024 campaign. Bessent also received an endorsement from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, according to Semafor.

“He’s from South Carolina, I know him well, he’s highly qualified,” Graham said.

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Protecting your portfolio against risks tied to Trump’s tariff plan

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Biggest Risks After the Rally: Trade & Top Valuations

Money manager John Davi is positioning for challenges tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.

Davi said he worries the new administration’s policies could be “very inflationary,” so he thinks it is important to choose investments carefully.

“Small-cap industrials make more sense than large-cap industrials,” the Astoria Portfolio Advisors CEO told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

Davi, who is also the firm’s chief investment officer, expects the red sweep will help push a pro-growth, pro-domestic policy agenda forward that will benefit small caps.

It appears Wall Street agrees so far. Since the presidential election, the Russell 2000 index, which tracks small-cap stocks, is up around 4% as of Friday’s close.

Davi, whose firm has $1.9 billion in assets under management, also likes staying domestic despite the tariff risks.

“We’re overweight the U.S. I think that’s the right playbook in the next few years until the midterms,” added Davi. “We have two years of where he [Trump] can control a lot of the narrative.”

But Davi plans to stay away from fixed income due to challenges tied to the growing budget deficit.

“Be careful if you own bonds for sure,” said Davi.

Since the election, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield is up 3% as of Friday’s close.

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