Phoebe Judge

They said that they made sure to cook them to an internal temperature of 140 degrees, which was the federal regulation.

But one year earlier, John Kobayashi had raised the Washington state required cooking temperature for ground beef from 140 degrees to 155 degrees.

And Jack in the Box had just admitted that they hadn't been doing that.

At the time, what was the USDA doing in terms of food safety?

Jack in the Box temporarily shut down their 66 locations in the state, and John Kobayashi issued a statement officially naming Jack in the Box as the source of the outbreak.

I'm Phoebe Judge.

This is Criminal.

By January 28th, two children at Seattle Children's Hospital had died from E. coli, and there were over 200 confirmed cases.

Jack in the Box's CEO, Bob Nugent, was called to Washington, D.C.

to testify in front of the Senate.

Bob Nugent acknowledged that their Washington restaurants hadn't been meeting the state mandatory cooking temperature and said, quote,

He also said, had passed all USDA inspections.

Darren Detweiler had heard about the outbreak before his 16-month-old son, Riley, got sick.

Their family hadn't eaten at Jack in the Box.

But they later learned that it was possible to get E. coli just from being in contact with someone who had it.

When Riley was airlifted to Seattle Children's Hospital, Darren Detweiler and his wife followed by Carr.

Darren and his wife consulted as many doctors as they could, but everyone came to the same conclusion.

So they agreed to take Riley off life support.

Riley Detweiler died on February 20, 1993, after over 20 days in the hospital.

We'll be right back.