How a Virginia meat plant became the center of a national listeria outbreak

'We just don't know' He said the reports of violations the U.S. Department of Agriculture released are almost never made public, nor is data about the number of inspections and checks federal or designated state inspectors make. So, he said it is impossible to say if the Jarratt plant's violations were worse or better than average. Nor is there any public data about environmental testing — the kind of sampling of water, work surfaces, drains, walls, floors and ceilings that might show where listeria bacteria were poised to land on...