San Francisco sues food manufacturers over ultraprocessed foods : NPR

The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit Tuesday against some of the country's leading food manufacturers, alleging that ultra-processed foods from companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle are responsible for the public health crisis.

City Attorney David Chiu named 10 companies in the lawsuit, including the makers of popular food products such as Oreo cookies, Sour Patch Kids, Kit Kat, Cheerios and Lunchables. The lawsuit alleges that ultra-processed foods are linked to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and cancer.

“They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body,” Chiu said in a press release. “These companies caused a public health crisis, they made huge profits, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they caused.”

Ultra-processed foods include candy, chips, processed meats, soda, energy drinks, breakfast cereals and other products that are designed to “stimulate cravings and encourage overconsumption,” Chiu's office said. Such products are “formulations of cheap ingredients, often chemically processed, with little or no added whole foods,” Chiu wrote in the lawsuit.

Other companies named in the suit include PepsiCo; Kraft Heinz Company; Postal holdings; Mondeles International; General Mills; Kellogg; Mars Incorporated; and ConAgra brands.

None of the companies named in the suit immediately responded to emailed requests for comment.

US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been vocal about the negative effects of ultra-processed foods and their link to chronic disease and has targeted them in his Make America Healthy Again campaign. Kennedy pushed for a ban on such foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Low Income Families.

An August report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods.

In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law to phase out some ultra-processed foods from school meals over the next decade.

San Francisco's lawsuit cites several scientific studies on the negative effects of ultra-processed foods on human health.

“A growing body of research is now linking these foods to serious illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, colorectal cancer, and even depression at a younger age,” Kim Newell-Green, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a press release.

The lawsuit alleges that by producing and promoting ultra-processed foods, the companies are violating California's Unfair Competition Law and Public Nuisance Statute. He is seeking a court order banning companies from “deceptive marketing” and requiring them to take measures such as educating consumers about the health risks of ultra-processed foods and limiting advertising and marketing of ultra-processed foods to children.

It also seeks financial penalties to help local governments cover health care costs caused by consumption of ultra-processed foods.