Two years before a deadly listeria outbreak, U.S. inspectors warned that conditions at a Boar’s Head plant posed an “imminent threat” to public health, citing extensive rust, deli meats exposed to wet ceilings, green mold and holes in the walls.

But the U.S. Agriculture Department did not impose strict measures on the plant, in Jarratt, Virginia, which could have ranged from a warning letter to a suspension of operations.

Since then, other inspections found that many of the problems persisted, but again, the plant continued to process tons of beef and pork products, including liverwurst.

Genome sequencing tests by public health officials in New York and Maryland tied a strain of listeria found in Boar’s Head liverwurst to the bacteria from people who died or fell ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The company recalled its liverwurst in late July. Days later, Boar’s Head expanded the recall to cover more than 3,500 tons of meat — including ham and other items made in the Jarratt facility, one of several it operates.

Production at the meat processing center in a rural part of the state has been temporarily stopped. Boar’s Head said it was disinfecting the plant and trying to determine the cause of the suspected contamination. Nine elderly people have died and dozens were hospitalized in the worst listeria outbreak in years.

Public health experts have expressed worry that those numbers could increase, because symptoms can emerge weeks later. They also noted that consumers might not be aware of the recall, and some of the products do not expire until October.

Like other meat processors, the plant is supposed to have USDA-trained inspectors on-site at all times that the facility is operating. After the outbreak became public, the USDA initially released one year of the inspectors’ reports from Aug. 1, 2023 to Aug. 2, 2024.

The agency later released reports dating to January 2022, which showed that a federal food safety assessment took place in September and October 2022. During that review, records show, inspectors were finding rust, mold, garbage and insects on the plant floors and walls.

“They shouldn’t have allowed this company to keep producing ready-to-eat products, lunch meat that’s going to go on people’s tables, when they’re seeing this level of violation,” said Sarah Sorscher, a food safety regulatory expert at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit advocacy group. “Consumers had to die before this plant got shut down.”

A spokesperson for Boar’s Head said the inspectors’ finding of an imminent threat in 2022 was not followed with any enforcement action after the federal agency reviewed the results of product and environmental testing, plant records and observations.

Asked by The New York Times about the assessment in 2022, the USDA did not respond directly. A spokesperson said the agency was conducting a review of the circumstances leading to the outbreak, adding that the Jarratt plant would remain closed until the department was confident that the company could produce safe foods. The agency said it was also looking at other Boar’s Head facilities, which operate in Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas and New York.

USDA records show that if an investigator identifies an “imminent threat,” the agency “may take immediate action.” It remains unclear what prompted the review in September 2022.

Carl Custer, a former USDA food microbiologist who assisted in investigations, said in an email that he was surprised the agency did not either shut down the facility in 2022 or require the company to keep the meats on the site until they cleared tests for contamination. He said a district office would be responsible for taking any action.