Potato chips and chocolate candy are pictured in 2024. Junk food and other ultra-processed foods have caused a healthcare crisis, and the companies that make and sell them should pay, San Francisco officials said in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. File Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
Dec. 2 (UPI) — Many of the nation’s best-known food brands make ultra-processed foods that are dangerous to eat and use deceptive marketing to sell them, San Francisco officials claim.
City officials on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court accusing 10 of the country’s largest food companies, according to NBC News.
San Francisco Attorney David Chiu filed the lawsuit on the city’s behalf and accused the defendant companies of creating a healthcare crisis, KGO-TV reported.
“Like the tobacco industry, they knew their products made people very sick but hid the truth from the public, profited from untold billions and left Americans to deal with the consequences,” Chiu said during a Tuesday news conference.
He said the foods produced by the 10 defendants cause cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression and other conditions that negatively affect people’s health.
In a news release issued on Tuesday, Chiu also accused the companies of “engineering and marketing” ultra-processed foods that have created a public healthcare crisis.
“They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body,” he said.
“Americans want to avoid ultra-processed foods, but we are inundated by them,” Chiu added.
The lawsuit names Kraft Heinz Co., The Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, General Mills and Post Holdings among defendants.
Other defendants are Mondelez International, Nestle USA, ConAgra Brands, Mars Inc. and the Kellogg Co.
“They profited handsomely, and how they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused,” Chiu said.
Ultra-processed foods are those that include chemical additives that have little nutritional value and virtually no use as a food, aside from processing, according to SFGATE.
They include many brands of potato chips, breakfast cereals, soda, candies, processed meats, cheese and boxed macaroni.
A 2024 study showed that people who consume large amounts of ultra-processed foods run a slighter higher risk of premature death than those who don’t.
A study done five years earlier indicated that consuming ultra-processed foods creates a 14% greater risk of a premature death for every 10% increase in consumption.