Understanding And Defending Foodborne Illness Litigation

Tampa, Fla. (June 1, 2020) - Recent highly publicized outbreaks of foodborne illness have lead to an upsurge in foodborne illness lawsuits through the United States. The Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network of the CDC estimates that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Foodborne illnesses account for approximately 1% of all hospitalizations and one out of every 500 deaths in the United States. These statistics have created a renewed trend in plaintiff litigation to attempt to recover damages in cases ranging from large-scale contaminations to single instances of a claimant suffering from food poisoning.