By SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS (Source San Francisco City Attorney’s Office)
San Francisco has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against 10 major food and beverage companies, accusing them of selling ultra-processed food that city officials say is harmful, addictive, and linked to chronic health problems. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court by City Attorney David Chiu on behalf of residents.
The complaint alleges that companies—including Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestlé USA, General Mills, Kellogg, Post Holdings, Mars, Mondelez, and ConAgra Brands—engineered and aggressively marketed products that contributed to a public health crisis. Officials say the industry’s actions violate California’s Unfair Competition Law and public nuisance statutes by promoting foods that fuel conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, and certain cancers.
“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” Chiu said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body.”
Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured products containing additives, artificial flavors, preservatives, and other ingredients designed to enhance taste and shelf life. They typically include candies, chips, breakfast cereals, sodas, energy drinks, and ready-to-eat meals. Critics say these foods are formulated to stimulate cravings and overconsumption.
Research shows diets high in ultra-processed foods are associated with a range of serious health risks. A central review published in The Lancet found that such diets are linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature death, and are overtaking traditional whole-food diets worldwide.
Despite concerns cited in the lawsuit, the Consumer Brands Association, which represents many defendants, maintains that its members’ products comply with federal safety standards and that nutrition is too complex to attribute to specific food categories.
San Francisco’s lawsuit seeks civil penalties, restitution to cover public health costs, and court orders to curb deceptive marketing, particularly toward children. The case highlights growing public and governmental alarm over the role of ultra-processed foods in America’s diet and health.