\n Brightly colored bags of Doritos, Tostitos, and other snack items are displayed on store shelves.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
San Francisco sues companies over ultra-processed foods<\/p>\n
\n Brightly colored bags of Doritos, Tostitos, and other snack items are displayed on store shelves.<\/p>\n
San Francisco, on Dec. 2, sued Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, and several other food companies, alleging that in selling ultra-processed foods, they have violated California law and created a public health crisis.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan<\/p>\n
The city of San Francisco on Tuesday sued a group of food companies, including Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, PepsiCo, WK Kellogg, and others, over the marketing and potential health effects of their ultra-processed food products. City Attorney David Chiu and his colleagues argue in the lawsuit, filed on behalf of the people of California, that these food products have created a public health crisis.<\/p>\n
“This case is not about food that is merely ‘unhealthy.’ This case is about food products with hidden health harms, that Defendants designed to be cheap, colorful, flavorful, and addictive,” the city’s attorneys write in the lawsuit (PDF)<\/a>. They cite studies linking ultra-processed foods to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, other chronic illnesses, and even cancer. “The nationwide epidemic of these preventable diseases, especially among children, has a clear origin\u2014Defendants’ conduct. And this conduct has significantly contributed to a serious public health problem in San Francisco,” the complaint reads.<\/p>\n Chiu filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the city and county of San Francisco. The suit alleges that these food companies\u2019 marketing practices are deceptive and have violated the state’s Unfair Competition Law and that their products have had negative health effects that create a public nuisance.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods and attempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities. Companies adhere to the rigorous evidence-based safety standards established by the FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] to deliver safe, affordable and convenient products,\u201d Sarah Gallo, senior vice president for product policy at the Consumer Brands Association, said in a written statement. \u201cFood and beverage manufacturers continue to introduce new product options that include increased protein and fiber, reduced sugars and sodium, and no synthetic color additives.\u201d<\/p>\n In this case, San Francisco is defining ultra-processed foods as foods that are the “result of combining, using a series of mechanized processes, cheap ingredients with enhancers, and additives with little to no food uses outside of processing,” following the NOVA Classification System<\/a> commonly used in scientific research. The EPA says fluorinated pesticides are not PFAS<\/p>\n The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted a \u201cfact check\u201d statement<\/a> Nov. 26 asserting that recently approved fluorinated pesticides<\/a> are not per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).<\/p>\n That is true by the agency\u2019s definition, which has been in place since 2023<\/a>, but not by the broader PFAS definition<\/a> from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).<\/p>\n The EPA\u2019s statement and accompanying landing page<\/a> about fluorinated pesticides also say that there is historical precedent across multiple administrations for approving them, that the pesticides have been extensively studied and found to have \u201cno human health risks of concern\u201d when used properly, and that they are safer than alternatives.<\/p>\n Under the EPA\u2019s definition, PFAS must contain at least two fully fluorinated, saturated carbons (CF2 or CF3). The definition is meant to regulate sulfonic and carboxylic acid PFAS, says toxicologist Thomas F. W<\/a>e<\/a>bster<\/a>, who recently retired from the Boston University School of Public Health.<\/p>\n The OECD definition counts molecules with one fully fluorinated carbon as PFAS\u2014which encompasses many more compounds<\/a>, including pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. The chemical structures of two of EPA\u2019s most recently approved pesticides, cyclobutrifluram and epyrifenacil, which this definition would call PFAS, each contain one trifluoromethyl (CF3) group attached to an aromatic ring.<\/p>\n Molecules in this subclass are chemically very different from classic PFAS, but that doesn\u2019t automatically mean they\u2019re benign, says Shira Joudan<\/a> of the University of Alberta, who researches the environmental fate of fluorinated organic molecules<\/a>. Many of them break down to environmentally persistent trifluoroacetic acid. That\u2019s especially concerning for pesticides, she says, because they are released directly into the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not a useful exercise to fight about what PFAS are and instead show data that these pesticides are okay and safe,\u201d Joudan says. Petition calls on the EPA to ban pesticides that promote antibiotic resistance<\/p>\n The Center for Biological Diversity and nine other public health and advocacy groups filed a petition (PDF)<\/a> last month urging the EPA to ban antibiotic and antifungal pesticides because they can render pathogens resistant to drugs that use the same or similar molecules.<\/p>\n Microbial resistance can emerge when bacteria or fungi are exposed to a particular drug that kills most organisms in the population but allows those that are naturally resistant to proliferate. Of the tens of thousands of unique pesticides currently registered by the EPA, streptomycin sulfate, an antibiotic primarily used to treat tuberculosis, is the active ingredient in at least 16, while the antibiotic oxytetracycline hydrochloride, effective against a range of bacterial infections, is the active ingredient in at least 11. The two are the most frequently used antibiotic pesticides.<\/p>\n Given evidence showing that streptomycin, oxytetracycline, and other antibiotic and antifungal pesticides can give rise to resistant pathogens\u2014which can spread to the humans and animals exposed to them\u2014the petition argues they should be banned under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which forbids the EPA from registering pesticides that cause \u201cunreasonable adverse effects on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe problems created by spraying massive amounts of human medicines on crop fields far outweigh the original agricultural problem,\u201d Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, tells C&EN. \u201cWith this petition, we\u2019re hoping EPA can start being a part of the solution to antibiotic resistance instead of staying a part of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to a request for comment, an EPA spokesperson said, \u201cWe have received the petition and plan to evaluate it. EPA remains committed to providing farmers the safest and most innovative tools available to better support a healthy food supply for all Americans while ensuring robust protections for human health and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to a similar request, a spokesperson for CropLife International, a trade association for agrochemical companies, said the group \u201ctakes the issue of antifungal resistance seriously\u201d and that they and their members \u201cremain engaged with the scientific community on this matter.\u201d The WHO classifies herbicide atrazine as probably cancerous to humans\u00a0<\/p>\n A worker applies an agricultural pesticide. An evaluation by a working group of 22 scientists from 12 countries has found limited epidemiological evidence linking the herbicide atrazine to cancer in humans.<\/p>\n Credit: The World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last month classified the herbicide atrazine as Group 2A\u2014\u201cprobably carcinogenic to humans.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n The evaluation, conducted by a working group of 22 scientists from 12 countries and summarized in the journal The Lancet Oncology on Nov. 21, found limited epidemiological evidence linking atrazine to cancer in humans, with an observed positive association between atrazine and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It found \u201csufficient evidence\u201d of cancer linked to atrazine in laboratory animals and what it describes as \u201cstrong mechanistic evidence\u201d in experimental systems. \u00a0<\/p>\n Atrazine is a chlorinated triazine systemic herbicide long used to disrupt the growth of broadleaf weeds and grasses in lawns and turf and in crops including corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. A 2012 EPA survey ranked atrazine the second-most-widely-used pesticide in the US, behind glyphosate. \u00a0<\/p>\n Future federal policy implications on the use of atrazine in the US and other jurisdictions because of the WHO\u2019s recent actions are unclear. IARC communication officer V\u00e9ronique Terrasse tells C&EN that IARC \u201cdoes not recommend regulations, legislation, or public health interventions, which remain the responsibility of individual governments and other international organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2003 the EPA concluded in its Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (PDF)<\/a> that atrazine was \u201cnot likely to cause cancer in humans,\u201d a view maintained in subsequent assessments. Yet recent ecological risk reviews and label-use restrictions\u2014including a 2024 update to atrazine\u2019s aquatic-plant toxicity threshold<\/a>\u2014suggest a renewed concern over atrazine\u2019s environmental and public health effects. \u00a0<\/p>\n The Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s Donley notes in a Nov. 21 statement that Syngenta Crop Protection, a major registrant of atrazine in the US, has provided many of the studies on which the EPA relies to base its opinion of the chemical\u2019s safety. \u201cThe IARC\u2019s finding is just the latest indictment of the industry-controlled U.S. pesticide oversight process that is failing to protect people and wildlife from chemicals linked to numerous health harms.\u201d \n Chemical & Engineering News<\/p>\n ISSN 0009-2347<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9
\n\u2014Delger Erdenesanaa<\/p>\n
\n\u2014Brianna Barbu<\/p>\n
\n\u2014Yaakov Zinberg, special to C&EN<\/p>\n
\n A worker in protective gear including a breathing mask wears equipment on their back and holds a sprayer that applies pesticide in a field of tall corn plants.<\/p>\n
\n Shutterstock<\/p>\n
\n\u2014Joe Beeton, special to C&EN<\/p>\n
\n 2025 American Chemical Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 San Francisco sues companies over ultra-processed foods Brightly colored bags of Doritos, Tostitos, and other snack items…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[47351,47353,4900,413,37421,3652,5409,47350,47352,101,103,102,104,106,105,15421],"class_list":["post-83517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-antibiotic","tag-atrazine","tag-cancer","tag-food","tag-pesticide","tag-pfas","tag-policy","tag-processed","tag-resistance","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-ultra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}