About 1,513 pounds of imported Italian pork jowl are being pulled from restaurants, distributors and stores across eight states after a sample tested positive for Listeria. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall on September 6, 2026, and placed it in the agency’s most serious category.
Two companies are behind it. Prime Line Distributors, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sent its version to food service and retail spots in Florida only. Ferrarini USA, Inc. of Hoboken, New Jersey, shipped its product to distributors and food service locations in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
No illnesses had been reported when the notice went out. The problem turned up during routine import reinspection testing, when a product sample came back positive for Listeria monocytogenes. The meat that may be contaminated is dry-cured pork jowl, sold as guanciale, and every piece of it traces back to a single production run overseas.
The Labels That Tell You It’s On the List
Every recalled package carries the same lot code, so this part is straightforward. Check the meat for LOT: 263311US and a best-if-used-by date of 05.16.27. If those two markings are there, it belongs to the recall.
Four product descriptions are on the notice. From Prime Line, there are various-weight cardboard cases holding two individually vacuum-packed pieces labeled “PRIME LINE DISTRIBUTORS, INC. GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY,” and single vacuum-packed pieces labeled “GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY” that also carry an additional “DOK GUANCIALE” label. From Ferrarini, there are cases with two vacuum-packed pieces labeled “GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY,” and single vacuum-packed pieces labeled “FERRARINI GUANCIALE DRY-CURED PORK JOWL.”
One more marking confirms it. The recalled meat shows establishment number “IT 1937 L CE” inside the Italian mark of inspection or printed on the case label. That code is your final check if a package looks like a match but you want to be sure.
All of It Came From One Plant in Italy
The guanciale was produced at a single facility, Est. 1937L Bome SRL in Italy, on May 21, 2026. From there it was imported into the United States on various dates in July 2026 and split between the two companies putting it on the market here.
That shared origin is why the two recall notices look like twins. Same lot, same best-by date, same plant, same establishment number. The only real difference is the name on the label and where each company’s share was trucked once it landed.
Most of It Went to Kitchens, Not Your Fridge
Both companies sent the guanciale to food service, and Prime Line sent its share to retail as well, which makes this recall different from a bag of lettuce getting yanked off a shelf. A cut that goes out to restaurants and distributors reaches plenty of people who never touched the packaging.
Cured pork cheek is the whole point of the product, and it shows up in familiar places. It becomes carbonara, it becomes amatriciana, and it gets sliced onto charcuterie boards. Someone who ordered pasta in Chicago or Fort Lauderdale in August has no label to read and no way of knowing which lot the kitchen pulled from.
Cooking is what settles it. The CDC puts the safe standard for ready-to-eat meat at 165 degrees or steaming hot, and serving it sliced and cold clears nothing, so the customer never sees which way the kitchen went. That gap is exactly why a restaurant-heavy recall is harder to trace than a boxed item sitting in your pantry. None of that is a reason to cook the recalled guanciale yourself, and the USDA does not suggest it.
What the Highest-Level Warning Means
The agency ranked this as a Class I recall, the top of its three tiers. That label is not handed out casually. It means there is a reasonable probability that eating the product could cause serious health problems or death.
The move was logged under two recall numbers, 019-2026 and 020-2026. Both cover the same meat, the same lot and the same Italian plant, which is why you may see the recall described as two actions that are really the same story.
Why Listeria Doesn’t Play Like Other Germs
Most bacteria slow way down when you chill them. Listeria monocytogenes does the opposite, growing even under refrigeration, which is why the advice is to keep the fridge at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below to slow it down. That is a big reason it shows up in ready-to-eat foods that never get cooked again before serving.
It also hides well. Contaminated food can look, smell and taste completely normal, so there is no sniff test that saves you. And the clock runs long. Symptoms usually start within two weeks but can take up to 70 days to appear, which means a meal from August could still matter weeks from now.
When it does hit, listeriosis can bring vomiting, nausea, a fever that won’t quit, muscle aches, a severe headache and a stiff neck. The tests to confirm it are specific, because the illness can look like plenty of other things at first.
Who Carries Almost All the Risk
Nearly all of the serious risk sits with pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65 and people with weakened immune systems. For a pregnant woman, an infection that feels mild can still lead to miscarriage, premature delivery, infection of the newborn or stillbirth.
It is not a common illness, but it is a heavy one. The CDC estimates about 1,250 people are infected with Listeria in the United States each year, and 172 of them die. That death rate is among the highest of any foodborne bug, which is why regulators treat a single positive sample as a reason to pull more than 1,500 pounds.
What to Do If You Have It
Anyone holding the recalled guanciale should not eat it. Throw it out or return it to where it was bought. Restaurants, distributors and retailers are being told to pull anything marked LOT: 263311US with a best-if-used-by date of 05.16.27.
Questions about the Ferrarini product can go to the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Infantino, at 818-256-1622 or Luca@ferrariniusa.com. Questions about the Prime Line product can go to its QA/QC manager, Liliana Rojas, at 954-925-4500. For general food safety questions, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline is 888-674-6854, and the email is MPHotline@usda.gov.
If you ate guanciale in one of the eight affected states over the past couple of months, the smart move is to watch for symptoms and tell a doctor what you ate if anything shows up, especially if you are in one of the higher-risk groups. Because symptoms can lag by weeks, a normal week or two after that pasta dinner does not fully close the book.
