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A new lawsuit filed on behalf of the people of California accuses some of the largest makers of ultraprocessed foods of deliberately engineering a “public health crisis” to increase sales of their products.
The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California, targets Kraft Heinz, Mondelēz International, Post Holdings, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestlé USA, Mars, ConAgra, Kellanova and WK Kellogg.
The central claim is that these companies have engaged in “unfair and deceptive” acts, which included deliberately engineering ingredients and additives in their products to be “harmful” and “addictive,” in order to hook consumers, especially children, on their products. They are also accused of using aggressive marketing to target children.
A similar suit, brought by a teenager from Pennsylvania, was dismissed in August of this year. He sued 11 food manufacturers, alleging that their products were directly responsible for his fatty-liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health issues.
“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.
“They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body. We must be clear that this is not about consumers making better choices. Recent surveys show Americans want to avoid ultra-processed foods, but we are inundated by them. These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused.”
The lawsuit draws on a large and growing body of research that links consumption of ultraprocessed foods to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, reduced muscle mass, endocrine disruption and other forms of widespread chronic disease.
Ultraprocessed food manufacturers are also accused of deploying tactics used by tobacco companies to hook consumers on their products, especially children.
Many of the earliest players in ultraprocessed food were owned by tobacco companies; although they had largely divested themselves of their food interests by the early 2000s.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has identified ultraprocessed foods as one of the main causes of America’s chronic-disease epidemic. He has described the US food supply as “mass poisoning.”
“Today’s children are the sickest generation in American history,” the May “MAHA Report” stated, adding that more than 40% of Americans live with at least one chronic condition. The Report recommended banning certain food dyes, strengthening the regulation of additives and altering dietary guidelines, among other things.
Individual states are also making their own changes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a bipartisan bill defining ultraprocessed foods and initiating a phase-out of the “most concerning” products from school meals.
Around 90 state bills have been introduced this year to ban food dyes, additives or ultraprocessed foods.
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