Pork recall announced over listeria concerns in 1,500 pounds of guanciale

Two companies have recalled imported pork guanciale amid listeria concerns, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced.

Approximately 1,513 pounds of ready-to-eat, dry-cured pork jowl imported from Italy may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, according to an FSIS recall notice issued on Sunday.

Commonly used in carbonara recipes, the pork cheek is typically sold in Italian specialty markets. Newsday has not yet identified any Long Island locations that carry the recalled items.

The recalled products were distributed by Florida-based Prime Line Distributors Inc. and New Jersey-based Ferrarini USA Inc., the FSIS notice said.

"During routine import reinspection, FSIS detected Listeria monocytogenes in a sample drawn from product shipped to another U.S. importer," said Ferrarini Group CEO Daniela Filipaz in an emailed statement. "Samples taken from Ferrarini USA product during the same import reinspection tested negative."

Because the Ferrarini product, produced by Bomè in Italy, came from the same production lot, the company recalled it as a precaution, Filipaz said. Prime Line Distributors and Ferrarini USA are separate entities that received imported product from the same source in Italy, a USDA spokesperson confirmed.

"FSIS is compiling the retail distribution list and will post it to the recall page as soon as it is available," the USDA spokesperson said in an emailed statement, in part.

As of Tuesday, no illnesses had been reported in association with the product, according to the statement.

The Ferrarini product "would not appear as a packaged item in a home refrigerator," said Ferrarini USA spokesperson Fabio Bartolo in an email.

Ferrarini USA did not sell the product directly to consumers. The company shipped the affected product to "distributors and food service locations" in several states, including New York, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois, Texas and California, according to the FSIS notice.

The recalled Ferrarini USA items have a "BEST IF USE BY" date of May 16, 2027, and are labeled "LOT: 263311US," the notice said. Recalled items also have the establishment number "IT 1937 L CE" printed on the case label or within the Italian mark of inspection, the notice said.

Prime Line provided the product to Florida "food service and retail locations," according to the FSIS release. In addition to the same "use by" date, lot number and "IT 1937 L CE" as with the Ferrarini items, the Prime Line product has an additional label with “DOK GUANCIALE” on the packaging.

Prime Line Distributors did not immediately provide additional comment.

Among those most vulnerable to serious illness after listeria exposure are pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Possible symptoms of invasive listeriosis, which typically appear within two weeks of eating contaminated food, include fever, head and muscle aches, fatigue, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and seizures, the CDC said.

By Arielle Dollinger

arielle.dollinger@newsday.com@aridollinger

Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.