A rural town in Virginia highlights the economic stress and uncertainty that unfolds when its biggest employer closes

The CornerStone Crossroads mart used to serve about 100
Boar's Head employees a day. (CornerStone ad photo)

Update: On Sept. 13, the Boar's Head website announced the indefinite closure of its Jarratt, Virginia plant. The company also included their decision to permanently discontinue making liverwurst. Christina Jewett and Teddy Rosenbluth of The New York Times report, "Union officials said the plant’s 500 workers would be given severance and offered relocation."

The Boar's Head plant in rural Jarratt, Virginia, remains closed after a national listeria outbreak, including nine deaths, was linked to the facility. "For years, the plant was seen as a stable, albeit difficult, place to make a living in the town of roughly 600," reports Eduardo Medina of The New York Times. Jennifer Blake of WWBT News in Virginia reports, "The Boar’s Head production facility [was] the largest and most common source of income for [Jarratt] residents."

The financial domino effect isn't limited to Boar's Head employees. "CornerStone Crossroads, a convenience store and restaurant, has had a drastic decline in customers," Medina reports. "When the plant was fully operating, CornerStone Crossroads would serve. . . about 100 plant workers every day. . . Now, it’s mostly just a handful of construction workers who stop by."

Some Jarratt residents "expressed remorse that a major employer in town had sickened so many people in several states," Medina writes. Russell Lewis, whose mother worked for Boar’s Head decades ago, told Medina, "I’m surprised, I’m disappointed, I’m sad so many people died from it . . . . From what I know from people who have worked there, it’s hard work. You’re basically in a refrigerator."

Other residents are simply anxious for the plant to reopen. Blake reports, "Despite the unhealthy findings, one resident says having that plant open is necessary." He told Blake, "People depend on Boar’s Head. I wish they could get it together and find out (what) the situation is that created the problem because a lot of people depend on it. I mean look around, there are only farmlands. It’s the only productive place in Jarratt as far as employment wise.”

In total, Boar's Head recalled seven million pounds of product and "says it won't reopen until they are 'confident that it meets the standards our customers expect and deserve,'" reports Cameron Thompson of WTVR News in Virginia. "It added employees are undergoing additional training and they are partnering with global food safety experts." Meanwhile, the residents of Jarratt await the plant's reopening and hopefully, a return to lines at the CornerStone Crossroads eatery.