After Boar’s Head Recall, Bodegas Confront Life Without Liverwurst

Cold cuts linked to a nationwide listeria outbreak have vanished from bodega and deli counters across New York City. For some shops, business is down, too.

At delis and bodegas across New York City and New Jersey this week, the same scene has repeated itself: A Boar’s Head delivery truck pulls up outside, but instead of delivering meat, uniformed workers descend upon the store’s deli counter, hauling away dozens of pounds of cold cuts.

For Jimmy Estevez, the owner of Jimmy’s Deli on Staten Island, the truck came twice — once last week and again on Tuesday, when Boar’s Head expanded a list of recalled meats. The men from the truck looked in his meat case, scanning bar codes and examining labels. They carted away ham, salami and bologna. Then they asked for his liverwurst.

“Liverwurst?” he said. “I don’t sell it.”

The recall — initially issued on July 25 over concerns of tainted liverwurst and now affecting seven million pounds of meat — was felt intimately in the city, where bodegas are ubiquitous, and Boar’s Head is the cold cut of choice.

The company issued its recall after some of its products were linked to a nationwide listeria outbreak, which has killed two people and sickened almost 40 more. Twelve people have become ill in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than any other state, and one of the two deaths has occurred in New Jersey.

At least 61 Boar’s Head products have been recalled, including liverwurst, bologna, ham bacon, bratwurst and pâté.