At least anecdotally, some food industry lawyers report a drop-off in food borne illness litigation cases this year. Official data is reported by the Centers for Disease Control annually, but litigants are a proxy for industry developments. Part of the reason could be the switch in consumption to homes instead of restaurants and bars (see graph below).  Historically, most cases occur in the home or in local food establishments. Those occurring in homes are more difficult to track since reporting is less concise. Some warn that the coronavirus has become a statistical catch-all for many unrelated illnesses, which means a food borne pathogen may have been confused for the coronavirus. It may also be the case that plaintiffs’ attor...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics