Poisoned; The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed the Way Americans Eat

by Jeff Benedict

In POISONED, Jeff Benedict delivers a jarringly candid narrative of the fast-moving disaster drawing on access to key documents and exclusive interviews with the real-life characters at the center of the drama - the families whose children were infected, the Jack in the Box executives forced to answer for the tragedy, the physicians and scientists who identified E. coli as the culprit, and the legal teams on both sides of the historic lawsuits that ensued. This is the story of the permanent transformation of our food supply chain, and the young maverick lawyer, Bill Marler, who staked his career on bringing the victims justice without compromise. Fast Food Nation meets A Civil Action in this riveting account of how we learned the hard way to truly watch what we eat.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Science, History, Health, Medical, Medicine

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Jeff Benedict conducted the first national study on sexual assault and athletes. He has published three books on athletes and crime, including a blistering exposé on the NFL, Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL, and Public Heroes, Private Felons: Athletes and Crimes Against Women. He is a lawyer and an investigative journalist who has written five books.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as I was initially interested in this book, the blatant, unabashed sexism made me throw it down in frustration by page 64.

It starts on page 16 when Jeff Benedict describes a future lawyer who ran for and won a public office at age twenty in this fashion: "There was no time for frat parties and plying girls with alcohol in hopes of getting them into bed." There is no evidence that the future lawyer in question had any intentions of coercing young women into nonconsensual sex; it seems that the author was just waxing poetic about his own bygone college days. I hope the lawyer described will be duly offended by this disgusting suggestion and sue the author! A couple of pages later the lawyer's future wife - an architect - is described as walking into a Planning Department as "a tanned blonde in a sexy white dress." Could you be any creepier?

Later, amid - I will admit - well written accounts of horrific suffering of children, Jeff Benedict introduces two mothers, Roni, who "at forty-four could still turn a man's head," and Suzanne, who was "topping 250 pounds with glasses and short wavy hair." Who in the hell is concerned about these women's physical attractiveness!? This book is about their children dying and suffering! Why mention what their mother's bodies looked like? Little is said about their fathers' physical attractiveness, which probably goes without saying.

I finally threw in the towel on page 64-65 as Jeff Benedict describes some sort of impressive male lawyer and all his amazing accolades, but absolutely NOTHING about what he looks like!

It's really quite disappointing because the book is otherwise well written, and the victims and their families deserve their story to be told and their children to be remembered. What a horrendous ordeal they went through. I have a daughter of my own, and I teared up reading about these parents' ordeals. I am so sorry they had to go through that.

I can't imagine what is was like for them. I am reading their stories with entire respect and reverence. I pray that I never have to walk in their shoes. But if I do, and someone later reports on it, I hope he doesn't describe my physical attractiveness in the context of my suffering child. Shame on you, Jeff Benedict.

[Meghan Engbretson · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 30%. The story of the Jack in the Box outbreaks is so interesting and yet this telling is completely ruined by this author going out of his way to hate women. “Bill was hanging out in the Planning Department, looking over maps, when a tanned blond in a sexy white dress walked in. She looked too good to belong there”.

Sir, stop writing and seek therapy. Gross.

[emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was so gd sexist and for what

[Jennie Norka · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a food safety professional I find that knowing these stories is essential to stay reminded of the significant impact foodborne illness and unsafe food practices have on everyday consumers. The book was pretty compelling to read and frequently heartbreaking. The author did lean into describing the personal relationships and experiences of key players a lot. The focus on the personal side of things did make it read more like a fictional novel than a nonfiction terrible event that occurred. I also echo other reviewers in that the author weirdly sexualized some of the people and topics in the story.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this 3.5 stars, despite very sloppy editing (in one spot, the protagonist, a lawyer suing Jack-in-the-box over tainted beef that killed several kids on the west coast in 1992, was said to be 29 in 1989 (OK, so then he was born in 1960) then in another place it says that he was 35 when the outbreak occurred (if he were born in 1960, he should have been 32), gives a fuzzy timeline about when he met his second wife (was he still married to his first wife?? If so, and he didn't want us to know that, then that section should have been better edited), and has other characters stating dialogue with conflicting numbers of people who died when, etc) because I found it a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of a personal injury lawyer. Unfortunately, I think the author spent way too much time trying to make the lawyer perfect and selfless (I guess so he would not look like an "ambulance chaser"?) and too little time on the issues surrounding the book (lack of both industry and government regulations/inspections/oversight on the food we eat).

[Kaydria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relentlessly creepy physical descriptions made me feel like I was reading a romance novel, but also children were dying of bloody diarrhea. Very strange juxtaposition.

[Elizabeth Matter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book to read. I enjoyed learning about E. Coli and I feel that the author did a somewhat decent job. However, like most other reviewers, the author's constant sexual comments towards women were horrific to me.

[Patrick Pilz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sunday, Dec. 30th 2018, 10:38 am

My wife just told me that she wants to go with my daughter shopping. I check twitter and read about this book on a blog post by Bill Marler. Thanks to Kindle whispersync to save the day. I sit down and start reading....

The story starts in San Diego, the town where I live. Burgers from the 5ht largest fast food chain in the country make people sick, up and down the west coast. The bug, E. Coli OH:157 was in the early 90's not really on any ones radar. Jeff unfolds the story like a legal thriller, Erin Brockvich comes to mind. It is a story without any villains, just the occasional stupid person. It is not really clear who is guilty and who is not.

At the end, the events trigger a landslide of changes in the country's food safety systems, in its beef supply, rise of HACCP, major food safety legislation and the start of the largest legal practice of food safety violations, Marler and Clark LLc in Seattle, WA. Bill Marler is actually at the center of the story, which makes this book kind of biographical for him.

You cannot attend an educational event in the meat industry, in which this story does not come up at some point in the conversation. The events in question happened about 25 years ago, and even if you still member some of it, you may want to pick this as a refresher, as it takes you through a roller coaster of emotions of laughter and sadness like no other book I have read lately.

Good read for anyone, Great read for any foodie, but a must read for any professional in the food industry.

Sunday, Dec. 30th 2018, 4:38 pm, time to make some dinner.

[Jacquelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. I was taken aback by just how horrific and tragic the E. Coli outbreak really was.

The author does a good job of telling each side of the story, because it's not a story with one evil villian who set out to intentionally kill and maim children, it's actually a story about various systems and the people who can end up being harmed by them if we're not constantly assessing and improving them. That wouldn't normally sound like a story that captures the heartstrings and keeps a reader engaged, but I breezed through with book with occasional tears in my eyes.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m obsessed with food safety so this book rocked for that but Benedict did the classic “and he walked past the receptionist, a nice busty woman with a tight ass” so much it! Was! Comical! Anyways, let’s hear it for better USDA meat inspection practices and food handling requirements.

[Caitlin Waring · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written but interesting story.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book Poisoned, Jeff Benedict tells about the E. Coli outbreak by using vivid examples. He starts off the story with doing a story on a six year old girl named Lauren Rudolph. Her father took her on an innocent father daughter day to Jack in the Box that no one knew would end the girl's life. Jeff Benedict gives such good details that when people read it they must be in tears because it makes me feel like I'm apart of the family. I felt like Lauren was my little sister that I was losing her on Christmas day. The part of her story where Lauren's mother found a written note on the floor beside Lauren's bed saying: Dear Santa, I don't feel so good. Please make me better for Christmas (3), was like a big wall hitting me. Lauren didn't know what was happening to her, and she never guessed that it would be the last time that she was ever going to be in her bed. The reason I chose to review this certain story in the book is because it touches my heart the most. Another example that made me a little emotional is when the nurse asks the mother of Lauren if there was anything that she wanted to do before they pulled the plug on her and her mother said "Well, one thing I promised Lauren that I'd do before Christmas was put fingernail polish on her toes"(7). This book makes me feel so bad for the innocent people that died for eating something that they had no idea would turn into such a big deal. There was one thing that made me mad instead of making me sad and that was when the Associate Director of Pathology at Children's Hospital, San Diego Glen Billman took Lauren's case to San Diego Department of Public Health and they closed Lauren's case. E. coli was not yet on the list of reportable infectious diseases in California. So hospitals didn't have to report it.(10)This book I thought was amazing and it was even better because it was all true stories and what all happened when the outbreak began and ended. If someone was looking for a good book, I'd recommend this book in a heart beat.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underlying story (of early 90's e Coli outbreak caused by undercooked hamburgers from Seattle-area Jack in the Box restaurants, killing several kids and hospitalizing dozens) is fascinating, as are many of the sub-stories (how USDA does or doesn't notify all food prep people of new regs, how personal injury lawsuits are settled, ethics of leaving a law firm and taking clients with you, leverage a chain restaurant can wield with meat suppliers...........).

Writing was so-so. As noted in the acknowledgements, he got extensive cooperation from the lead attorney going after Jack in the Box on behalf of the family of a little girl who nearly died but survived with extensive rehab needs, and as such the story is told mainly from this attorney's perspective. He might seem less heroic if the author had more contact with the partners this attorney abandoned (two firms) after securing lucrative cases while in their employment.

Strange choices of what details to include -- the families of the affected children get fairly short shrift, whereas some other seemingly unimportant details get full coverage. One example: CEO of Jack in the Box did an interview with Meredith Vieira that ends up proving useful to the plaintiffs in making the CEO look like a clueless fool whose food quality people weren't keeping him up to date on laws and policies. During the several pages on this fairly important incident, the author detours to quote an involved exchange between a couple of Jack in the Box people about how Meredith V. is "even prettier in person". Doesn't really go anywhere or fit any larger narrative about what these guys were like; it's just, I guess, something the author heard so he included it. Attention narrative nonfiction writers: Be selective! Thank you.

[Donna Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

My heart goes out to the children who died or suffered terrible injuries and sickness because one day they asked for a hamburger. Being in San Diego, home to Jack in the Box as well as some of the judges/attorneys in the case added interest as well. The book was well-researched and well-written but didn't capture my heart or make me feel I knew the people involved -- it didn't get me as emotionally involved in the story as the newspaper article focused on one of the children and mentioning the book did. One morning reading that article as I ate breakfast had me crying at the breakfast table and had my husband trying to figure out what the heck could be wrong, but I didn't shed a tear reading the book. Nonetheless it is a book that should be read ... you will think twice before ordering a hamburger.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a medico-legal story about an E.Coli outbreak at Jack In the Box restaurants in the early 1990's and it reads like a pulse-pounding thriller. The author follows a couple of families whose children had eaten hamburgers with E.Coli infestations and a couple of attorneys as well as some Jack in the Box employees who try to figure out what has happened and why.

The book kind of sagged in the middle section under its own weight of too many lawyers and too much legal-eagle drama. I did enjoy reading the medical parts as that's my field. There were a lot of things that I didn't know that I learned from reading this book. That there is now a law firm devoted to foodborne illnesses and contamination cases. That there are at least 7 strains of E.Coli but the government only tests for one of them (WHY???). That if you have food poisoning and start having bloody diarrhea you need to get to the ER post-haste.

I was a bit paranoid about this book going into it, because I thought it would be all dry and crusty and lawyer-ly. I need not have worried. This book tells the story of the Jack in the Box poisonings of 1993 by the people who were there and lived it. The story is even broken down into bite-sized portions; chapters are at most eight pages long and peppered liberally with photographs and diagrams and such. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

[Chanele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read, particularly if you are interested in both medicine and law. The book moves quickly, especially the first half. Benedict does a great job of capturing the horrors of illness and the mistakes that went uncaught at various points. By the end, it does get a little slow, even for someone familiar with the law. But ultimately, it was an easy book to read because I wanted to know what happened next.

It was not without its flaws, though. It felt overall like some sort of paid advertisement for Bill Marler. No doubt that Bill Marler is a giant in his field, and he played a tough hand to get to where he is, but Benedict wrote this book with a few too many stars in his eyes for Marler. Because of the man-crush, it portrayed some actors in the book, particularly Marler's first firm, as unnecessary villainous. Curiously, Benedict managed to paint even the less-than-noble Marler actions to look like a white knight on a charge. But this is all from someone familiar with that world. The casual reader will very much enjoy the antics.

[Artemis Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out really promising. In the first few pages I had tears streaming down my face. However, not being all that interested in litigation, this book really dragged in the middle. There was just too much legal mumbo jumbo for my taste, and lots of key players to keep straight. Still, it was a very interesting read and there was enough medical detail (my real interest) to keep me turning the pages. Of course, from the beginning, the big question looms: How much money will they settle for? I am glad I stuck it through. One note- I read the ebook version and felt that the photos were very oddly placed and without much relevant context. This could be only a digital problem, but I didn’t compare it to the printed text so I can’t say for sure. It was strangely annoying to me so thought it worth mentioning.

[Deborah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 54%

This book always had an uncomfortable thread of sexism in it--a very "good ol' boys" narrative style where every time a woman enters the scene, suddenly everything is noir-style. "She was an older dame but still able to turn a man's head." (It didn't say 'dame' but that was the vibe.) But I was able to overlook that because the story was compelling, human, and high-stakes. It's easy to care about sick kids; it's easy to hope they survive. The scientific information was interesting, and I appreciated the author's approach of showing every player in a positive light.

And... somehow it devolved into a story about a bunch of lawyers jerking each other around? I was hooked for the human story; I was bored as hell for the blow-by-blow of the legal casework and inter-office joking.

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a required book for me to read in one of my nutrition classes in college, but turned out to be a great read that I enjoyed both reading and then writing a paper on. It gives much insight to some recent practices of the meat industry that supplies fast food joints such as McDonalds and others. The main character is an ambitious dude who does everything it takes to expose malpractices that led to many getting very sick over consuming food from these places and the fact that all of this is real makes it more interesting. Highly recommend for those interested in this sort of stuff and I would say this work certainly overlaps with Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" for those who want more on the topic.

[Rachel Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited about this "Food Safety" book and to learn the details of what is always referenced--The Jack in the Box crisis! The first quarter of the book delivered on that. The rest of the book is not a Food Safety book, it's a legal book. I so, so hoped the book would come back and talk about the changes made in the slaughter plants, HACCP, cooking temperature, but the rest of the book stays on the story of Marler getting monetary retribution for the victims. It was interesting enough, but not what I was looking for. The Epilogue had a small amount of the types of topics I expected.

Still glad to know the background on Marler, who is infamous in this circle.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been interested in reading about this tragedy from the 90s for some time and found this book. I read it in less than two days. It reads like a mystery. I expected more about the health implications, but this author focuses on the legal gymnastics used to aid the victims. It still makes excellent and suspenseful reading. This book is a strong reminders of how valuable attorneys are at helping people who have experienced severe calamity recover and continue with their lives. Great reading.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I vaguely have memories of Jack in the Box being a “dangerous” place when I was a kid, and in the city I’m originally from, they were few and far in between. I found this book due to a list created by the Austin Public Library, and took it as an opportunity to fill the gaps in my memory. This book is dense with a massive cast of folks - and somehow, Benedict keeps them all straight and never loses sight of the suffering a lapse in regulations can cause. Informative and painstakingly researched, it’ll make you think twice about eating out.

[Summerfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got me close to tears a few times. However, I could have cut out probably ten of the chapters about lawyer squabbling. It didn't particularly affect the overall story and was basically just a technical view of how lawyers work behind the scenes. It felt more like a boring legal thriller than a medical/legal story. Also, it didn't really explain how it changed how Americans eat. Because we don't really eat differently. We got better at REGULATING certain things, but we still eat those things. An argument for regulating and stopping this capitalistic hellscape of de-regulation if you ask me.

[Carlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the E. Coli outbreak at Jack in the Box in the 1990s, with info on some of the children and families who got E. Coli poisoning, but much more focus on the CEO of Jack in the Box and some of the attorneys involved in the lawsuits that followed.

I vaguely remember this news story when I was a kid, but not the specifics. There were some parts of the book that dragged on but overall was interesting to learn. Ended up listening to this at 1.9x speed though.

[Jilian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a Foodborne Illness Litigation course in law school. Interesting perspective of the E. Coli outbreak in the 90's that originated from Jack in the Box, killing and injuring many. Includes perspectives from attorneys on both sides of the case, restaurant executives, physicians, scientists, and victims and their families. Great book to read for the course and has left me thinking on numerous occasions since finishing.

[T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely readable, hard to put down. Would make me think twice before eating meat, except I don't eat meat! Great lessons in food safety history and litigation, providing incites into the world of insurance settlements and personal injury lawsuits. It would be nice if all the deaths, illnesses and lawsuits would have ended this scourge but it is here to stay and this book reminds one of how vigilant we need to be about the food we eat.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into food regulation and the events that spurred critical changes within the food industry. It's very well researched and offers a glimpse into the early career of Bill Mahler, who is still a well known and very active lawyer that prosecutes food-borne illness cases. Anyone who is in the food industry should read this book and learn from history in order to prevent it from repeating itself.

[Vanessa Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well-written and compelling non-fiction read. I knew almost nothing about the outbreak, but searched for this book after watching the recent Netflix documentary.

Honestly, this is not a feel-good story, but the writing style and unique content made it worth it. The second half of the book was a little too technical for me, but it was still interesting. I recommend this book if you're a fan of non-fiction.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and compelling read about an E.coli outbreak in the early 90’s. It covers the outbreak and the legal battle afterwards. This book was extremely interesting and very well written. I do agree with some other reviews that the author’s descriptions of people, particularly women, are very odd/sexual and unnecessary. The story itself is well written and very fast paced. It does a good job of telling the story without bogging down on the medical and legal nuances.

[Noel نوال · Rating 1 out of 5]

Regrettably, I had to read this for a class and it was so pointless. Watch the first 30 minutes of the Netflix documentary by the same name and learn the important info about the Jack in the Box E. Coli outbreak of 1993 without the rampant sexism, homophobia, and extremely dry writing that focuses more on the lawyers than anything else. There surely has to be a better written book about this pivotal event that had drastically shaped food safety in the US because this one ain't it.