Prime Line Distributors, Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Ferrarini USA, Inc., of Hoboken, New Jersey, are recalling approximately 1,513 pounds of imported ready-to-eat dry-cured pork jowl, sold as guanciale, that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall on September 6, 2026. Every product under recall carries the same code: LOT 263311US, with a best-if-used-by date of 05.16.27. All of it was produced at Est. 1937L Bome SRL in Italy on May 21, 2026, and imported into the United States on various dates in July 2026. No illnesses have been confirmed.
What is under recall
Four descriptions appear on the recall labels: various-weight cases holding two individually vacuum-packed pieces, and individually vacuum-packed pieces sold on their own, under the Prime Line Distributors and Ferrarini names. One Prime Line item carries an additional DOK GUANCIALE label. All of it bears the Italian mark of inspection with establishment number IT 1937 L CE, on the package or on the case label.
The Prime Line product went to food service and retail locations in Florida. The Ferrarini product went to distributors and food service locations in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
The port caught it, and that is the good news
FSIS says the problem surfaced during routine import reinspection testing, when a product sample confirmed positive. That is the system working. Imported meat gets one federal look on American soil, at the import house, and FSIS describes that program as sampling shipments at a frequency meant to give 95 percent confidence that a safety problem will be caught, with higher-risk ready-to-eat products sampled at a higher rate. Product that passes is stamped with the USDA mark and moves into commerce as though it had been made here.
No FSIS inspector has ever walked the floor at Bome SRL. Foreign plants are covered by an equivalence determination for the exporting country’s inspection system, audited periodically, plus whatever the port check happens to pull. For a shelf-stable-looking, vacuum-packed, ready-to-eat cured meat, the port check is the whole domestic net.
The question the recall notice does not answer
FSIS’s own import reinspection directive says that at the normal level of reinspection, the importer of record must keep control of product FSIS has sampled for adulterants and must not let it enter commerce until negative results come back. Listeria monocytogenes in a ready-to-eat meat product is an adulterant. This lot reached food service and retail locations in eight states anyway.
The likely explanation is in the notice itself. One production lot arrived on more than one date in July, and the entry that got sampled was not the entry that cleared first. That is not a scandal. It is the structural limit of port sampling, and it is worth saying out loud: testing one shipment does not reach the rest of the same production lot that already left the dock and is now in a walk-in cooler in Illinois. FSIS should say which it was, because the answer determines whether this is a paperwork problem or a design problem.
An eight-month shelf life and no label for the person who ate it
The best-if-used-by date is May 16, 2027. Whole vacuum-packed jowls sit in restaurant coolers for months and get sliced or diced down as the kitchen needs them, which is exactly why FSIS says it is concerned that product may still be in food service and retail refrigerators and freezers, and why it is telling those locations not to serve or sell it.
Almost none of this reached a consumer in a package with a lot number on it. Guanciale is a restaurant ingredient. It becomes carbonara, amatriciana, a charcuterie board. A diner in Fort Lauderdale or Chicago who ate it in August has no label to check and no way to know. Rendering it in a hot pan would kill the organism; serving it sliced and cold would not. The customer never knows which kitchen did which.
Ferrarini’s second FSIS recall in sixteen months
On May 2, 2025, Ferrarini USA, then in Secaucus, New Jersey, recalled about 70 pounds of ready-to-eat sliced Prosciutto di Parma that had never been presented for import reinspection at all. FSIS learned of it only because a federal establishment reported it. One product skipped the check; this one failed it. Both land on the same seam in the same system.
What to do now
Restaurants, distributors and retailers should pull anything marked LOT 263311US with a best-if-used-by date of 05.16.27 and either discard it or return it. Questions on the Prime Line product go to Liliana Rojas, QA/QC manager, at 954-925-4500. Questions on the Ferrarini product go to Luca Infantino, chief financial officer, at 818-256-1622.
For anyone who ate Italian cured pork at a restaurant in those eight states in July or August: listeriosis can take up to 70 days to show itself, and FSIS advises that people in the higher-risk groups who develop flu-like symptoms within two months of eating a contaminated food should seek care and tell the provider what they ate. If you are pregnant, over 65, or immunocompromised, that window is still open.
About Listeria
Listeria monocytogenes is the rare pathogen that grows at refrigerator temperatures, which is why it hides in ready-to-eat foods that are never cooked again before they are served. It has one of the highest fatality rates of any foodborne pathogen. Pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65 and people with weakened immune systems carry nearly all of the serious risk. In pregnancy it can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery and life-threatening infection of the newborn.
Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Listeriaoutbreaks. The firm has recovered over $850 million for clients and has litigated Listeria cases traced to lettuce, polony, deli meat, cantaloupe, cheese, celery and milk. We represented the families of all 33 people who died in the 2011 Jensen Farms cantaloupe outbreak, and we represented victims of the 2024 Boar’s Head deli meat outbreak.
If you or a family member became ill with a Listeria infection after eating a recalled product, you can contact the firm for a free case evaluation at 1-800-884-9840 or at bmarler@marlerclark.com. There is never a fee unless we recover for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is Listeria? It is a bacterium that causes listeriosis. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, sometimes preceded by diarrhea. Invasive infection spreads beyond the gut and is treated with antibiotics.
What foods carry it? Deli meats and cured meats, soft cheeses, unpasteurized milk, smoked fish, ice cream, sprouts, melon and packaged salads. The common thread is a refrigerated food that is eaten without further cooking.
Why is it so dangerous in pregnancy? A pregnant woman may feel nothing worse than the flu while the infection reaches the fetus. Symptoms can appear up to 70 days after exposure, which is why a recall like this one matters long after the meal.
Can I bring a claim? Yes. A company that sells food contaminated with a pathogen is liable for the harm it causes, and in most states that liability does not require proof of negligence.
Additional Resources
About Listeria — background on the bacterium, the illness and past outbreaks.
Family Health Guide on Listeriosis (PDF) — a plain-language guide for families.
Listeria News — current outbreak and recall coverage.
Listeria Lawsuits and Litigation — the firm’s history in these cases.
FSIS Recalls and Public Health Alerts — the agency’s running list.
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