San Francisco sues companies over ‘ultra-processed’ foods

By Dave Mason
The Center Square

The city and county of San Francisco is suing 10 companies for manufacturing everything from sodas to candy bars and breakfast cereals – what the municipality calls unhealthy, “ultra-processed” foods.

But there’s no agreed-upon scientific definition of “ultra-processed,” and manufacturers are adhering to safety standards while introducing healthier choices, according to the Consumer Brands Association.

City Attorney David Chiu filed the suit Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court against Kraft Heinz Co., Mondelez International, Post Holdings, The Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg, Mars Inc. and ConAgra Brands.

“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” Chiu said in a news release. “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,” Chiu continued. “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 suit accuses the manufactured food industry of using “deceitful tactics it inherited from the Big Tobacco industry to flood the market with harmful UPF [ultra-processed food] products and to aggressively sell those products to children.”

The increase in ultra-processed foods has resulted in hikes in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and other life-changing chronic illnesses, according to the suit.

And there’s a need for better transparency, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said.

“San Francisco families deserve to know what’s in their food,” he said in the news release. “We’re not going to let our residents be misled about the products in our grocery stores. We are going to stand up for public health and give parents the information they need to keep themselves and their kids safe and healthy.”

But manufacturers have worked to introduce healthier products and improve product transparency, said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy at the Consumer Brands Association.

“There 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,” Gallo told The Center Square Wednesday in an email.

“Companies adhere to the rigorous evidence-based safety standards established by the FDA to deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day,” Gallo said.

She noted manufacturers are making new products that have more protein and fiber, reduced sugars and sodium, and no synthetic color additives.

The Center Square reached out Wednesday to the federal Food and Drug Administration and the city of San Francisco for comment, but did not get a response by press time.