Failed State, Contaminated Plate: the 2024 Listeria Outbreak

How did a beloved deli meat brand become the center of a deadly nationwide food safety crisis? The 2024 Boar’s Head listeria outbreak exposed alarming flaws in the U.S. food safety system. In this episode, we uncover how a tangled web of decentralized regulation failed to prevent contaminated products from reaching consumers.In this episode, we explore regulatory failures behind the deadly Boar’s Head listeria outbreak. With insights from Diana Winters, deputy director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy, we examine the shortcomings of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system and the role of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in deli meat oversight.  We discuss how decentralized regulation and limited governmental resources contributed to the outbreak.  This episode sheds light on the underlying flaws in the U.S. food safety system and poses the questions: who was in the wrong in the Boar 's Head case, and what can be done to prevent similar outbreaks in the future?  Tune in as we dive into the complexities of food safety regulation and the lessons we can learn from the Boar 's Head incident to strengthen our food safety system. Produced by Hannah Jin, Myra Xu, and Isabella Yuan Special thanks to Christopher Kelty, Alexandra Boesel, and Diana Winters. These podcast episodes were created by members of the 2025 Winter Capstone course in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics (https://socgen.ucla.edu/). The faculty sponsor is Christopher Kelty. For questions or concerns email [email protected].