‘Funny Thing Was… People Had Died’: Elon Musk Laughs While Remembering Food Poisoning Outbreak That Killed Four Children

Elon Musk laughingly recalled a food poisoning outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants that killed four children and sickened more than 700 people in 1993.

The Tesla Motors CEO has previously recounted his early days in Silicon Valley as a coder writing video games. Musk has said he and his brother Kimbal relied on Jack in Box as a late-night dinner option when they lived in Palo Alto in the 1990s.

Appearing on Friday’s episode of the “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley” YouTube show, a host asked Musk about his favorite Jack in the Box meal.

BREAKING: I got to interview @elonmusk with @kgee @EliBurton_ @klwtts and of course we asked some hard hitting questions about @JackBox. Here is Part 1 of 3 for Tesla Owners Silicon Valley’s interview with @elonmusk: Early Days of Tesla
🎥 @klwtts https://t.co/IDCWTsGsot pic.twitter.com/wp9paslpGC

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 3, 2022

Here is the exchange:

CO-HOST: What’s your favorite Jack in the Box meal?

MUSK: We went through every Jack in the Box meal. The teriyaki bowl can be decent at times. [Laughs] It depends who’s making it, and, how-long-has-it-been-on-the-shelf type of thing.

But actually, funny thing was, when we–Jack in the Box was operating at a discount because, like a couple years earlier, people had died from eating at Jack in the Box.

CO-HOST: [Laughter]

MUSK: So, we figure, like, this is a great, ok, they gotta charge less, you know?

CO-HOST: Don’t tell me that.

MUSK: This was like–I think they’ve improved their food quality or whatever. But because some people had died from food poisoning from Jack in the Box, [laughs], it was–like, like, that’s how scroungy we were. Like, we’re like, ok we’re not gonna go to McDonald’s. We’re gonna go to Jack in the Box because the food is cheaper because they had food poisoning.

In 1993, Jack in the Box experienced a massive E. coli outbreak at locations in four states in which four children – all age six or younger – died. More than 150 others required hospitalization. Most of them were children under 10.

Musk replied to the above clip posted by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley on Twitter.

“Good interview,” he tweeted.