Food Servers' Produc-Liabty Revisited—

Abstract

Not too long ago the test for product liability in cases where a foodservice consumer was injured by an undesirable object in his or her food was whether the object was naturally associated with the food consumed (e.g., a pit in a cherry pie). Recently, however, many states (e.g., California) have adopted a "reasonable-expectations" test that allows customers to argue that there is a reasonable expectation that even naturally occurring objects should be removed during preparation of a food item.