1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak

Fast food disease outbreak March 2020 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak JackInTheBoxLogo.svg The outbreak was centred on Jack in the Box fast food outlets in the United States. Escherichia coli O157:H7 Western United States Seattle, Washington January 12, 1993 December 18, 1992 –February 23, 1993 Contaminated beef products at Jack in the Box restaurants 732 178 4 The 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak occurred when the Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacterium (originating from contaminated beef patties) killed 4 children and infected 732 people across four US states.Schlosser 2001 198Nestle 2010 73 The outbreak involved 73 Jack in the Box restaurants in California, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada, and has been described as "far and away the most infamous food poison outbreak in contemporary history".The Christian Science Monitor Boston, MA Poisoned author Jeff Benedict examines the current state of food safety in the US Rebekah Denn May 13, 2011 https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0513/Poisoned-author-Jeff-Benedict-examines-the-current-state-of-food-safety-in-the-US July 8, 2013Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10 The majority of the affected were under 10 years old.Hunter 2009Schlosser Wilson 2006 180 Four children died and 178 others were left with permanent injury including kidney and brain damage.Detwiler Darin Do Meat and Poultry Handling Labels Really Convey Safety? http://www.foodquality.com/details/article/6033271/Do_Meat_and_Poultry_Handling_Labels_Really_Convey_Safety.html?tzcheck=1 Food Quality and Safety Wiley Periodicals, Inc. June 4, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140714142700/http://www.foodquality.com/details/article/6033271/Do_Meat_and_Poultry_Handling_Labels_Really_Convey_Safety.html?tzcheck=1 July 14, 2014 deadKiller in beef spreads alarm Lois Rogers The Times London April 16, 1995 1 ProQuest document ID 318273338Children risk death from burger bug Sylvester Rachel The Sunday Telegraph London June 11, 1995 9 ProQuest document ID 309266408Foodmaker Financial Times London February 25, 1998 1 ProQuest document ID 248542525Roberts 2008 182 On February 10, 1993, newly inaugurated president Bill Clinton participated in a televised town meeting program from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit. He fielded questions from the studio audience as well as studio audiences in Miami and Seattle and responded to questions from the parents of Riley Detwiler – the fourth and final child to die in the E. coli outbreak.C-SPAN Video (February 11, 1993) The wide media coverage and scale of the outbreak were responsible for "bringing the exotic-sounding bacterium out of the lab and into the public consciousness," but it was not the first E. coli O157:H7 outbreak resulting from undercooked patties. The bacterium had previously been identified in an outbreak of food poisoning in 1982 (traced to undercooked burgers sold by McDonald's restaurants in Oregon and Michigan). Before the Jack in the Box incident, there had been 22 documented outbreaks in the United States resulting in 35 deaths.Drexler 2009 81 Sources On January 12, 1993, Phil Tarr, then a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Washington and Seattle's Children's Hospital, filed a report with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) about a perceived cluster of children with bloody diarrhea and hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS) likely caused by E. coli O157:H7.McNamara Ann Marie John H. Silliker Lecture: Heroes: Past and Future https://www.foodprotection.org/upl/downloads/meeting/archive/5c91137f3262435bd43ee.pdf IAFP Journal for Food Protection International Association for Food Protection Tarr contacted epidemiologist John Kobayashi, who started the epidemiological trace-back, linking these cases to undercooked hamburger patties. Kobayashi recalled the conversation in an interview: "I knew that, when Phil called me, ... for him to say, 'this is something that I've never seen before,' that was a big red flag."Detwiler Darin Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions 2020 Elsevier Academic Press Cambridge, MA 9780128182192 1st https://www.elsevier.com/books/food-safety/detwiler/978-0-12-818219-2 Health inspectors traced the contamination to the Jack in the Box fast food chain, especially their "Monster Burger" which had been on a special promotion and sold at a discounted price.Drexler 2009 81Manning 2010 10 The ensuing high demand "overwhelmed" the restaurants' food safety protocols, such that the patties were not cooked long enough or at a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria.The Bug That Ate The Burger Emily Green Los Angeles Times Los Angeles June 6, 2001 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-06-fo-6863-story.html July 7, 2013 On January 18, 1993, the DOH announced the source of the E. coli O157 outbreak in a press conference. Afterwards, Jack in the Box agreed to stop serving hamburgers and to quarantine the meat patties. Two days later, a powerful storm swept through Seattle and King County. The storm ravaged the area, knocking out power for thousands of residents across three counties, with some living in the dark for 5 days. The power outage impacted restaurants' proper cooking temperatures and safe refrigeration temperatures, and even hindered thorough hand-washing – all critical factors in preventing foodborne illnesses. At a 1993 press conference, the president of Foodmaker (the parent company of Jack in the Box) blamed Vons Companies, the supplier of their hamburger meat, for the E. coli epidemic. However, the Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant chain had knowledge of but disregarded Washington state laws which required burgers to be cooked to 155 F C, the temperature necessary to completely kill E. coli. Instead, it adhered to the federal standard of 140 F C. If Jack in the Box followed the state cooking standard, the outbreak would have been prevented, according to court documents and experts from the Washington State Health Department.Porterfield Elaine Berliant Mcclatchy Adam Jack in the Box Ignored Food Safety Regulations, Court Documents Say http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jun/17/jack-in-the-box-ignored-food-safety-regulations/ June 5, 2014 The Spokesman-Review The Spokesman-Review Co. June 17, 1995 The subsequent investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified five slaughterhouses in the United States and one in Canada as "the likely sources of [...] the contaminated lots of meat."Davis 1993 258-263 In February 1998, Foodmaker agreed to accept $58.5 million from Vons and eight other beef suppliers to settle the lawsuit, which had been initiated in 1993.Jack in the Box gets $58 mil in E. coli case http://archives.starbulletin.com/98/02/25/business/bizbriefs.html June 14, 2015 The Star Bulletin Hawaii, Inc. February 25, 1998 A total of 732 cases were confirmed, with 171 people requiring hospitalization.https://www.justice.org/sites/default/files/FoodSafety.pdf Food Safety and the Civil Justice System American Association for Justice Washington, D.C. 2015 November 25, 2015 The majority of those who presented symptoms and were clinically diagnosed (but not hospitalized) were children under 10 years old.Hunter 2009Schlosser Wilson 2006 180 Of the infected children, 45 required hospitalization – 38 had serious kidney problems, and 21 required dialysis.The Natural Health Guide to Beating Supergerms Richard P. Huemer Jack Challem Pocket Books New York 1997 8 978-0-671-53764-7 registration https://archive.org/details/naturalhealthgui00huem/page/8 Four people, all of whom were children, died: Six-year-old Lauren Beth Rudolph of Southern California died on December 28, 1992, due to complications of an E. coli O157:H7 infection later tied to the same outbreak. (Lauren Rudolph E. coli case)Roberts 2008 18220 Years Later – Remembering the First E. coli Victim http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/foodborne-illness-outbreaks/20-years-later-remembering-the-first-e-coli-victim/ Food Poison Journal Bill Marler December 24, 2012 November 25, 2015 Two-year-old Michael Nole of Tacoma, Washington, died on January 22, 1993, at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Seattle of heart failure stemming from kidney failure caused by E. coli O157:H7.https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/06/business/company-news-jack-in-the-box-s-worst-nightmare.html Jack in the Box's Worst Nightmare February 6, 1993 The New York Times New York November 25, 2015https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930122/1681248/boy-dies-from-tainted-meat----2-year-old-is-first-victim-of-food-poisoning January 22, 1993 Boy Dies From Tainted Meat – 2-Year-Old Is First Victim Of Food Poisoning Greg Heberlein Warren King Judith Blake Margaret Miller The Seattle Times Seattle November 25, 2015 Two-year-old Celina Shribbs of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, died on January 28, 1993. She became ill due to a secondary contact (person-to-person) transmission from another child sick with E. coli.https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/22/us/17-month-old-is-3d-child-to-die-of-illness-linked-to-tainted-meat.html 17-Month-old Is 3d Child to Die Of Illness Linked to Tainted Meat February 22, 1993 The New York Times New York November 25, 2015https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19960707/2338048/chronology-of-e-coli-outbreak July 7, 1996 Chronology Of E. coli Outbreak Tina Kelley The Seattle Times November 25, 2015 Seventeen-month-old Riley Detwiler of Bellingham, Washington, died on February 20, 1993, following secondary contact (person-to-person) transmission from another child sick with E. coli. The 18-month-old boy who infected Riley had spent two days with bloody diarrhea in the daycare center before a clinical laboratory could return the positive test results for E. coli. The first boy's mother suspected her son had E. coli but did not tell the daycare staff for fear that she would be compelled to care for him at home. When the test results came in positive for E. coli, county health officials could not reach the child's parents during the workday. Both of the first boy's parents worked at Jack in the Box, where they regularly fed their son hamburgers. Riley, on the other hand, had never eaten a hamburger. Some experts speculate that, while most media coverage focused on the company and the government – treating the affected as faceless and nameless statistics – the interaction of Riley Detwiler's parents with President Bill Clinton resulted in the ensuing national news coverage giving a human face to the events.Gynn Catherine 1995 Beyond objectivity and relativism: A view of journalism from a rhetorical perspective ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304229217). 151421789 On Tuesday, February 23, 1993, 3 days after Riley's death, the American Meat Institute (AMI) sponsored an industry briefing in Chicago to discuss the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak tied to contaminated hamburgers sold at Jack in the Box. Jim Marsden, AMI's vice president for scientific and technical affairs, started off the meeting by informing the group that "Riley Detwiler, the 17-month-old son of the parents who you just saw featured at the town meeting with President Clinton, died last Saturday."http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A14123275/AONE?u=mlin_b_northest&sid=AONE&xid=ed1d188a April 1993 Solution near on E. coli Crisis Daniel Best Prepared Foods. April 15, 2019 Lawsuits In 1993, attorney William Marler represented 9-year-old Brianne Kiner in litigation against Jack in the Box following an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, securing a $15.6 million settlement.Directory Profile School of Law University of Arkansas https://law.uark.edu/academics/llm-food-ag/faculty/faculty-bmarler.php 2023-09-14 law.uark.edu Marler represented hundreds of other victims of the outbreak in a class-action suit against Jack in the Box, settling for over $50 million. At the time, it was the largest-ever payout related to foodborne illness.Brianne Kiner — The 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli Outbreak https://billmarler.com/key_case/jack-in-the-box-e-coli-outbreak 2022-11-15 billmarler.comApril 2023March 11, 2008 Other big E.coli outbreaks South Wales Echo Cardiff 9 ProQuest document ID 342321106 Victims of the Jack in the Box E. coli crisis sued Foodmaker Inc. because they were responsible for supplying the meat for Jack in the Box restaurants. Sheree Zizzi was a spokesperson for Foodmaker Inc. when the lawsuit of Riley Detwiler was settled, she had a positive view on the lawsuit by referring to it as fair and equitable. However, another Foodmaker Inc. official, Robert Nugent was not pleased and viewed the lawsuits as poor settlements with the franchisees as a whole. The main argument made against Foodmaker Inc. in these lawsuits was that they had failed to check the meat supply to deem it safe to eat and that they withheld information for their benefit from the company.Littlefield Robert Jack in the Box: Lessons learned by Accepting Responsibility https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=e669382ee1c7ab0c49c39d68b70fe786428a1b08#page=35 September 29, 2023 Lessons learned about protecting America's Food In hopes to improve the company's reputation, the chairman of Jack in the Box, Jack Goodall, publicly announced that the company shared their sympathy and prayers to the families of the victims of the crisis. He added that Jack in the Box would pay the hospital bills for all of the customers affected with E. coli. Legacy section May 2024 250px right "Chasing Outbreaks: How Safe is our Food?". Retro Report short film dated May 10, 2015, discussing the Jack in the Box outbreak and how it led to major changes in industry practices and government oversight of the food supply. (Duration: 11 mins 8 secs) Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), addressing a congressional hearing on food safety in 2006, described the outbreak as "a pivotal moment in the history of the beef industry."Food Safety: Current Challenges and New Ideas to Safeguard Consumers: Hearing Before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, 109th Cong. 76 (November 15, 2006) (statement of Senator Dick Durbin). James Reagan, vice president of Research and Knowledge Management at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), said that the outbreak was "significant to the industry" and "the initiative that moved us further down the road [of food safety] and still drives us today."Food Safety News Jack in the Box and the Decline of E. coli James Andrews February 11, 2013 http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/02/jack-in-the-box-and-the-decline-of-e-coli/ July 8, 2013 Seattle, WA David Acheson, a former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Associate Commissioner for Foods, in 2015 told Retro Report that "Jack in the Box was a wakeup call to many, including the regulators. You go in for a hamburger with the kids and you could die. It changed consumers' perceptions and it absolutely changed the behaviors of the industry."Scott Michels Drew Magratten Chasing Outbreaks: How Safe Is Our Food? May 10, 2015 http://www.retroreport.org/video/chasing-outbreaks-how-safe-is-our-food/ Retro Report July 15, 2015 As a direct result of the outbreak: E. coli O157:H7 was upgraded to become a reportable disease at all state health departments.Benedict 2011 xi The US FDA increased the recommended internal temperature for cooked hamburgers from 140 °F °C to 155 °F °C.Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10Benedict 2011 xiFood Safety Innovation in the United States The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) introduced safe food-handling labels for packaged raw meat and poultry retailed in supermarkets, alongside an education campaign alerting consumers to the risks associated with undercooked hamburgers. Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10Benedict 2011 xi The labels and the education campaign came with criticism and objection from the industry. The FSIS introduced testing for E. coli O157:H7 in ground meat.Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10 The USDA reclassified E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant in ground beef.Roberts 2008 183 The USDA introduced the Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP) program.Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems, 61 Fed. Reg. 38806 (1996).Roberts 2008 183Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 14 The NCBA created a task force to fund research into the reduction of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle and in slaughterhouses.Golan Roberts Salay Caswell 2004 10 Jack in the Box completely overhauled and restructured their corporate operations around food safety priorities, setting new standards across the fast food industry. Roni Rudolph, mother of Lauren Rudolph, and many other parents of affected children formed STOP Foodborne Illness (formerly Safe Tables Our Priority, or S.T.O.P.), a national non-profit organization dedicated "to prevent[ing] Americans from becoming ill and dying from foodborne illness" by advocating for sound public policy, building public awareness, and assisting those impacted by foodborne illness.News Desk Name Change for Food Safety Advocacy Group STOP http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/04/name-change-for-food-safety-advocate-stop/ February 21, 2015 Food Safety News Seattle April 21, 2011 Parents of the affected children played key roles in spreading awareness and advocating for change – speaking directly to President Bill Clinton, meeting with Vice President Al Gore, testifying before the Clinton Healthcare Task Force, working with the Secretary of Agriculture, and discussing food safety issues with lawmakers in Washington, D.C.Balter Joni Darin Detwiler: He Lost Son To E. coli, Now Is Hellbent On Making It To Olympia https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19940109/1888711/darin-detwiler-he-lost-son-to-e-coli-now-is-hellbent-on-making-it-to-olympia June 5, 2014 The Seattle Times January 9, 1994King Warren E. coli Victim Leaves Legacy Of Awareness https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930225/1687443/e-coli-victim-leaves-legacy-of-awareness June 5, 2014 February 25, 1993 Darin Detwiler, who lost his son, Riley, to E. coli–caused hemolytic–uremic syndrome during the outbreak, later served as a regulatory policy advisor to the USDA for meat and poultry inspection. Detwiler became a professor of Food Policy and the Director of Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industry at Northeastern University.Canaday Autumn USDA Press Release No. 0186.04: Veneman Names New Member to National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection http://www.usda.gov/documents/NewsReleases/2004/05/0186.doc USDA USDA Office of Communications June 5, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140811231649/http://www.usda.gov/documents/NewsReleases/2004/05/0186.doc August 11, 2014 dead In 2018, 25 years after his son's death in the outbreak, Dr. Detwiler received the Food Safety Magazine "Distinguished Service Award" for 25 years of contribution to food safety and policy.https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/news/detwiler-to-receive-food-safety-magazine-distinguished-service-award/ Detwiler to Receive Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award – Food Safety Magazine foodsafetymagazine.com July 16, 2018 June 1, 2018 E. coli–related events that are reported by the media outlets, often cite the Jack in the Box example because of its significance with its brand and the people. The repetition of negative media on a restaurant tarnishes its history because the consumers of the media will uphold that negative image for long periods of time.Seo Soobin Jang SooCheong (Shawn) Almanza Barbara Miao Li Behnke Carl 2014-05-01 The negative spillover effect of food crises on restaurant firms: Did Jack in the Box really recover from an E. coli scare? International Journal of Hospitality Management 39 107–121 10.1016/j.ijhm.2014.02.011 0278-4319 7117015 32287858 Foodmaker Inc. officials defended themselves and their brand by taking the blame away from their cooking practices because they believed they had not caused the outbreak. However, the Health Department would find that their burgers were undercooked under state-approved regulations. The officials would then issue their apology regarding their part in starting the outbreak.Littlefield Robert Jack in the Box: Lessons learned by accepting responsibility. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=e669382ee1c7ab0c49c39d68b70fe786428a1b08#page=35 September 29, 2023 Lessons learned about protecting America’s food supply Due to this crisis, Jack in the Box as a whole would have to face the accusations of being irresponsible for their actions and ignoring safety regulations that are set in place, as well as having poor communication when addressing the crisis to their customers.Ulmer Robert R. Sellnow Timothy L. 2000-05-01 Consistent Questions of Ambiguity in Organizational Crisis Communication: Jack in the Box as a Case Study https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006183805499 Journal of Business Ethics en 25 2 143–155 10.1023/A:1006183805499 142916103 1573-0697 subscription Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat was a 2011 book by Jeff Benedict that followed the events of the outbreak and the development of Bill Marler, an attorney who fought against Jack in the Box.2017-12-28 Jack in the Box E. coli Outbreak – 25th Anniversary https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/jack-in-the-box-e-coli-outbreak-25th-anniversary/ 2023-11-02 Food Safety News en-US The book later became the basis of the 2023 Netflix documentary, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food. See also Food 1990s 1996 Odwalla E. coli outbreak List of food contamination incidents STOP Foodborne Illness 2024 McDonald's E. coli outbreak References 30em Bibliography Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat Jeff Benedict Jeff Benedict 9780983347804 May 16, 2011 Inspire Books Buena Vista, VA Detwiler Darin Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions 2020 Elsevier Academic Press Cambridge, MA 9780128182192 1st https://www.elsevier.com/books/food-safety/detwiler/978-0-12-818219-2 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Update: Multistate Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infections from Hamburgers – Western United States, 1992–1993 Davis M. April 16, 1993 42 14 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00020219.htm Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections Madeline Drexler Penguin Books New York, NY Revised December 23, 2009 9780143117179 Food Safety Innovation in the United States: Evidence from the Meat Industry Elise Golan Tanya Roberts Elisabete Salay Julie Caswell Michael Ollinger Danna Moore Agricultural Economic Report 831 April 2004 http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=41636 Infectious Connections Beatrice Trum Hunter Basic Health Publications Laguna Beach, CA 2009 9781591202448 Escherichia coli Infections Shannon D. Manning Chelsea House Publishers 2nd April 1, 2010 9781604132533 New York, NY Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety Marion Nestle July 2, 2010 9780520266063 2nd Revised University of California Press Berkeley, CA The End of Food Paul Roberts Paul Roberts (author) 2008 Bloomsbury Publishing London 9780747588818 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser Eric Schlosser Penguin Books London 2001 9780141006871 Fast Food Nation Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food Charles Wilson Eric Schlosser 2006 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt New York, NY 9780618593941 Chew on This E. coli Category:December 1992 in the United States Category:January 1993 in the United States Category:February 1993 in the United States 1993 Category:Health in Washington (state) Category:1992 disease outbreaks Category:1993 disease outbreaks Category:Food recalls Category:Restaurant food safety scandals Category:1993 in Washington (state) e-coli Category:1992 disasters in the United States Category:1993 disasters in the United States