Wednesday, December 15, 2021
USDA FSIS issued a Class I recall for about 1,513 pounds of imported ready-to-eat pork guanciale distributed to eight states after Listeria monocytogenes was found during import reinspection; no illnesses have been reported.
Federal inspectors have pulled a batch of imported cured pork from shelves in eight states after routine testing turned up Listeria monocytogenes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the Class I recall, its most serious category, on September 6, 2026. It covers roughly 1,513 pounds of ready-to-eat pork guanciale distributed by Prime Line Distributors and Ferrarini USA.
The product is a dry-cured pork jowl produced in Italy in May and imported in July. Inspectors flagged it during import reinspection, and the recalled lot (263311US, best-by May 16, 2027) reached retailers and food-service accounts in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. No illnesses had been reported as of the recall notice, so the action is precautionary, but the hazard behind it is a serious one.
Listeria is why a recall like this matters more than the modest tonnage suggests. Unlike most foodborne bacteria, it keeps multiplying at refrigerator temperatures, and a ready-to-eat product carries no cooking step to kill it before it reaches the plate. Listeriosis is especially dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, older adults, and anyone with a weakened immune system, and symptoms can take weeks to surface. The federal guidance is simple: do not eat the product. Throw it out or return it to the store, then clean any surfaces and containers it touched.
For a prepared household, a recall is a rotation drill in disguise. Treat it as a prompt to walk your refrigerator and your food storage system, match lot numbers and dates against the notice, and pull anything you cannot verify. Ready-to-eat cured and deli meats deserve a closer look in general, since they land on recall lists more often than shelf-stable staples.
It is also a reminder of why a shelf-stable food stockpile earns its place. Canned and dry goods with a real kill step or a sealed shelf life are not exposed to the same cold-tolerant pathogens, and they give you options on the days you would rather not lean on the fresh and refrigerated end of the store. Rotate what you have, label what you buy, and let a headline like this one be the nudge to check the dates you have been meaning to check.
