Countywide : Illnesses Not Linked to Jack-in-the-Box
Five adults in Ventura County have reported symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting and cramps after eating Jack-in-the-Box hamburgers, but the county health department inspected the two restaurants in question and found no link between the illnesses and the hamburger meat.
“We have no confirmed illnesses related to Jack-in-the-Box,” said Elizabeth Huff, district coordinator for the Ventura County Environmental Health Division.
She said a Los Angeles radio station erroneously reported that three Ventura County residents had food poisoning related to the same bacteria that killed a Seattle boy.
The Ventura County complaints came in over a weeklong period beginning Jan. 20, following the Seattle boy’s death and illnesses in Las Vegas that were attributed to eating Jack-in-the-Box hamburgers.
Huff said the health department inspected restaurants at 2352 E. Thompson Blvd. in Ventura and 960 N. Ventura Road in Oxnard, and found that both were cooking at temperatures sufficient to kill the bacteria if it were present.
A spokeswoman for both restaurants said managers worked closely with county health officials when reports about the illnesses surfaced.
“They confirmed what we always believed--that there was absolutely no connection” with the Seattle cases, said Sheree Zizzi, director of corporate communications for Jack-in-the-Box.
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