2021 Mid-Year Review: Food and Beverage False Advertising Lawsuits
Pooja Nair, Partner and Chair of ECJ’s Food, Beverage and Hospitality Department, and Cate Veeneman, an attorney in ECJ's Litigation Department, co-authored the article, "False Advertising Lawsuits are Ramping Up in Food and Beverage," which was published by Food Dive on August 23, 2021.
The article discusses the state of current food and beverage false advertising cases, as well as trends they anticipate seeing through the end of the year. Vanilla flavoring, sparkling water flavoring lawsuits, "All Natural" claims and added sugar cases remain the focus of false advertising lawsuits in 2021. Companies promoting environmental and sustainable claims are also facing lawsuits relating to advertising and labeling products, alleging "greenwashing." The lawsuits filed so far in 2021 indicate this litigation trend will continue, and that plaintiffs' firms are targeting trending food and beverage products.