Suzanna's Kitchen, a food processing company based in Georgia that focuses on homestyle and comfort foods, has recalled over 13,700 pounds of ready-to-eat grilled chicken fillets, according toan announcementfrom the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The chicken may have been contaminated withListeria monocytogenes,the bacterium that causes listeriosis.
TheUSDAmade the announcement on January 16, 2026, but the story only received widespread attention several days later. The affected chicken was packaged on October 14, 2025. It covers ten-pound cases containing two five-pound bags of fully cooked, grilled chicken breast fillets with rib meat, identified by lot code 60104 P1382 287 5 J14 printed on the side of the case. If you have ready-to-eat grilled chicken from Suzanna's Kitchen and aren't sure if it's part of the recall, look for the establishment number P-1382 inside the USDA mark of inspection on the package.
The affected chicken was sold in seven states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio. So far, there have been no reported cases of food poisoning related to the recall. The bacteria were identified at a third-party testing facility that detected Listeria in a lab sample. The bacteria, which typically contaminate food in manufacturing and processing facilities, can continue to grow in refrigerated environments and spread through cross-contamination.
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The danger of Listeria
Listeriosis, or listeria, is a serious kind of food poisoning, though it doesn't often get mentioned as often asinfections like Salmonellaand E.coli. The illness can cause a range of symptoms, and some cases run their course as a less severe gastrointestinal illness that includes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, and fever. However, if the bacteria spread beyond the intestines, the resulting infection is much more serious. This version of the infection can cause headaches, balance issues, convulsions, and even death. It's potentially life-threatening to the elderly, babies, and those with compromised immune systems. It also presents a severe risk to pregnant women who may show no symptoms but can pass the infection to their unborn child.
According to theFDA, though serious Listeria infections are rare, over 90 percent of cases result in hospitalization. Typically, only 1,600 cases are reported in a given year, but someserious Listeria outbreakshave resulted in deaths. Although cooking can kill L. monocytogenes, the problem is that it can infect food during processing, and in the case of these chicken fillets, contamination likely occurred after cooking. This is how Listeria infections often occur in foods likehot dogs and deli meats.
Because they are labeled as ready-to-eat, customers may eat them straight from the package or fail to reheat them as thoroughly as they would an uncooked product. To be safe, it's best to always reheat a product like a ready-to-eat grilled chicken fillet until it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, as recommended by the USDA. The FDA suggests these foods need to be "steaming hot" before consumption. Anyone who has already consumed the recalled chicken, or any food, and feels ill afterward is advised to contact a healthcare provider with any concerns.
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Read theoriginal article on Tasting Table.
