13,720 Pounds, 97 Days, Zero Confirmed Illnesses: The Suzanna's Kitchen Listeria Recall in Alabama

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced on January 19, 2026, that Suzanna's Kitchen, a Georgia based food service company, was recalling approximately 13,720 pounds of ready to eat grilled chicken breast fillets because of possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, the company had already produced the chicken more than three months earlier, on October 14, 2025. In the space between those two dates, cases of the product moved through food service distribution channels into at least seven states, including Alabama. No illnesses had been confirmed as of the recall announcement, according to FSIS. But the length of that gap, and the questions it raises about how contaminated food moves through the supply chain before anyone outside the company knows about it, are worth taking seriously, whether or not anyone in Alabama ever becomes sick. This post lays out what has been confirmed by federal regulators and national news organizations, what remains unknown, and what Alabama consumers and food service operators should do with that information.

The Scope of the Recall: 13,720 Pounds Across Seven States

According to FSIS, the recall covers approximately 13,720 pounds of fully cooked, ready to eat grilled chicken breast fillets with rib meat, produced by Suzanna's Kitchen at an establishment identified by the federal meat and poultry inspection number P-1382. The product was packaged in 10 pound cases, each containing two 5 pound bags, and carried the lot code 60104 P1382 287 5 J14. FSIS classified the recall as Class I, the agency's highest risk category, reserved for situations in which there is a reasonable probability that eating the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.

FSIS and multiple national news organizations, including CBS News and Fox Business, reported that the product reached food service distribution centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio. That distribution channel matters. This was not, as far as has been publicly confirmed, a product sold directly to households from a retail grocery shelf. It moved through food service distributors, the companies that supply restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals, schools, and similar institutional kitchens. That means the population potentially exposed is not limited to people who remember buying a specific bag of chicken. It could include anyone who ate prepared food made from this product at an institution supplied by one of the affected distribution centers, without ever knowing the chicken's brand or origin.

A Timeline That Raises Questions: From Production to Public Notice

The chicken was produced on October 14, 2025. FSIS did not announce the recall until January 19, 2026, roughly 97 days, or about three and a half months, later. Publicly available reporting attributes the discovery of the contamination to a third party laboratory that tested the chicken fillets and reported a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes. What is not publicly documented, at least not in the FSIS notice or any national reporting reviewed for this post, is exactly when that third party test was conducted, how long the positive result sat before it reached FSIS, or how much of the 13,720 pounds had already been consumed, discarded, or otherwise moved beyond recall by the time the public notice went out.

That gap is worth naming plainly rather than glossing over. A product can sit in commerce, in distribution center coolers, in institutional kitchen freezers, and eventually on someone's plate, for months before a recall notice ever reaches the public. Alabama families who ate at a restaurant, hospital cafeteria, or school lunchroom sometime between October 2025 and January 2026 had no way to know that a Listeria positive product might have been in that kitchen's supply chain, because the information did not exist publicly until January 19.

What FSIS Has Confirmed, and What Remains Unknown

To be clear about what is fact and what is not, FSIS has confirmed the production date, the pounds recalled, the lot code, the establishment number, the Class I classification, and the seven state distribution footprint. FSIS has also confirmed that, as of the recall announcement, no illnesses had been reported in connection with the product. That is important context. This recall was, in FSIS's own framing, a precautionary action based on a positive laboratory test, not a response to a documented outbreak.

What has not been publicly confirmed, based on the sourcing available at the time of this post, includes the specific names of the restaurants, hospitals, schools, or other institutions that received the product in Alabama, the total number of Alabama locations affected, whether any illness reports have been logged with the Alabama Department of Public Health or the CDC in the months since the recall, and whether Suzanna's Kitchen or FSIS has issued any update, expansion, or closure of the recall since the January announcement. Readers should treat any of those specifics, if they encounter them from another source, with appropriate skepticism unless that source is FSIS, the CDC, or a comparable government or established national news outlet. This post makes no claim about Alabama specific illness numbers because no government source has published any.

Understanding Listeria Monocytogenes and the Real Health Stakes

Listeria monocytogenes is not a bacteria most people think about day to day, but it deserves attention because of how it behaves differently from more familiar foodborne illnesses. Unlike salmonella or E. coli, which tend to cause symptoms within a day or two, Listeria infection, known as listeriosis, can take up to 70 days to produce symptoms after exposure, according to public health guidance cited in national reporting on this recall. That long incubation window means a person could eat contaminated chicken in November and not connect a January illness back to that meal at all.

For most healthy adults, listeriosis causes symptoms similar to a bad flu, including fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. But for certain populations, the disease is far more dangerous. Pregnant women face an elevated risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life threatening infection in a newborn. Adults over 65, young children, and anyone with a weakened immune system, including people undergoing cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients, and people with chronic conditions like diabetes or kidney disease, face a meaningfully higher risk of severe illness, including bloodstream infections and meningitis. Symptoms of the more severe form of the disease include persistent fever, severe headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, in addition to the more common gastrointestinal symptoms.

Because food service distribution, rather than retail sale, was the primary channel for this product, the population at elevated risk is not limited to home cooks who might recall a specific purchase. It potentially includes patients in hospital cafeterias, elderly residents in care facilities, and children in school lunch programs, some of the very populations for whom Listeria poses the greatest danger.

What Alabama Consumers and Food Service Operators Should Do Now

Because this recall reached Alabama through food service channels rather than grocery store shelves, most individual consumers will not find this exact product in a home refrigerator. The more realistic exposure pathway is having eaten prepared food, at a restaurant, workplace cafeteria, healthcare facility, or school, sometime after mid October 2025, before the recall became public in January 2026. If you or a family member developed an unexplained fever, muscle aches, or more severe neurological symptoms during that window, particularly if you fall into one of the higher risk categories described above, it is reasonable to mention this recall to a healthcare provider and to ask whether Listeria testing is appropriate.

Food service operators in Alabama, including restaurants, hospitals, long term care facilities, and school nutrition programs, should check their own receiving and inventory records against the lot code 60104 P1382 287 5 J14 and establishment number P-1382 to confirm whether they received any of the recalled product from Suzanna's Kitchen. Any recalled product still on hand should not be served and should be handled according to FSIS guidance and the recalling company's instructions. Institutions with questions about the recall can contact FSIS directly through the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline.

More broadly, this recall is a reminder that food safety in institutional settings depends on a supply chain that most consumers never see and cannot inspect themselves. A family choosing a restaurant, or a patient in a hospital bed, has no practical way to verify where the chicken on their plate came from or whether it was part of a lot that a third party lab had already flagged as contaminated weeks or months earlier.

What Should Happen Next: Accountability and Transparency

A Class I recall means FSIS itself has determined there was a reasonable probability of serious harm. That determination alone should prompt continued public attention, not a one time news cycle. Consumers and the institutions that serve them deserve clear answers to the questions this recall leaves open, including how quickly Suzanna's Kitchen acted once it learned of the positive laboratory result, how many of the affected institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio have been individually notified, and whether any additional testing or oversight has been implemented at the establishment identified by federal inspection number P-1382 since this recall.

Government agencies, including FSIS and the Alabama Department of Public Health, along with the company itself, bear responsibility for making sure this information reaches the people who need it, not just the trade press that tracks recall notices. When food moves through institutional channels rather than retail shelves, the ordinary consumer protections that come from reading a label at the grocery store simply do not apply, which makes timely, complete public disclosure even more important, not less.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly was recalled?

Approximately 13,720 pounds of fully cooked, ready to eat grilled chicken breast fillets with rib meat, produced by Suzanna's Kitchen under federal establishment number P-1382, packaged in 10 pound cases containing two 5 pound bags, with lot code 60104 P1382 287 5 J14, according to FSIS.

Where was the product distributed?

FSIS and national news reporting confirm the product reached food service distribution centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio. The product was distributed through food service channels rather than sold directly on retail store shelves.

Has anyone gotten sick?

As of the FSIS recall announcement on January 19, 2026, no illnesses had been confirmed in connection with this product. This post is not aware of any confirmed illness reports published by FSIS, the CDC, or the Alabama Department of Public Health since that date, though readers should understand that the absence of published reports does not necessarily mean no cases exist, only that none have been publicly confirmed as of this writing.

Why did it take so long to recall the product after it was made?

The product was produced on October 14, 2025, and the recall was announced January 19, 2026, a gap of about 97 days. FSIS and national reporting attribute the discovery to a positive Listeria monocytogenes result from third party laboratory testing, but the exact date of that test and the reasons for the length of the gap between production and public notice have not been publicly detailed in the sourcing available.

What is Listeria monocytogenes and why is it considered high risk?

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacteria that can cause listeriosis, an infection that can take up to 70 days to produce symptoms after exposure. It poses the greatest danger to pregnant women, adults over 65, young children, and people with weakened immune systems, for whom it can cause severe complications including bloodstream infection and meningitis. FSIS classified this recall as Class I, its highest risk category, reflecting a reasonable probability of serious health consequences.

What should I do if I think I was exposed?

If you ate prepared food at a restaurant, cafeteria, healthcare facility, or school in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, or Ohio between mid October 2025 and January 2026, and you or a family member experienced unexplained fever, persistent headache, muscle aches, or more severe symptoms during that window, it is reasonable to discuss this recall with a healthcare provider. Food service operators should check inventory against the lot code and establishment number above and contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline with any questions.

Get Help Understanding Your Rights

The Law Offices of Elliott Owen Lipinsky monitors food safety recalls that affect Alabama families and the institutions that serve them, because understanding what happened, and what is still unknown, is the first step toward accountability. If you have questions about how a recall like this one might have affected you or someone you love, or if you simply want help understanding your rights when a food safety failure touches your family, call the Law Offices of Elliott Owen Lipinsky in Selma at (334) 230-7986. We are here to help Alabama consumers get clear answers.