The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a Class I pork recall on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, after routine import reinspection testing found Listeria monocytogenes in imported ready-to-eat pork guanciale. Prime Line Distributors and Ferrarini USA are recalling about 1,513 pounds of the product, which was made in Italy on May 21, imported into the United States in July and identified by LOT: 263311US, best by May 16, 2027, with establishment number IT 1937 L CE.
The recall matters now because Class I is the USDA’s most serious warning level, reserved for situations in which there is a reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death. Even so, no illnesses have been reported in connection with the products. The guanciale was distributed to food service, retail and distributor locations in eight states, a reach broad enough that the affected product may already have moved through restaurants, counters and storage rooms before the notice landed.
That breadth is part of the problem. FSIS said some of the recalled items may still be sitting in refrigerators or freezers at food service establishments and retail locations, which means the danger is not limited to product still on a truck or in a warehouse. Consumers were told not to eat the guanciale and to throw it away or return it to the place of purchase. Food service operators and retailers were told not to sell or serve it.
The recall centers on pork guanciale, a dry-cured pork jowl product commonly used in Italian cuisine. Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, which FSIS says most often threatens older adults, pregnant women, newborns and people with weakened immune systems. In severe cases, the infection can spread beyond the gastrointestinal tract, and for pregnant women it can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or life-threatening infections in newborns.
FSIS is now conducting recall effectiveness checks to make sure the product is pulled from commerce, but the agency has not said when every affected package will be accounted for. The sharper question is how much of the 1,513 pounds has already been sold, eaten or tucked away in storage. That is the part of a Class I recall that matters most: the warning is already at the top of the scale, while the full reach of the product is still being traced.
