Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Kellogg, and Kraft Heinz are some of the 10 major corporations being sued by San Francisco, which is arguing they unfairly marketed ultraprocessed foods and products they knew would make people sick.
abc7news.com
This could be huge if successful somehow.
San Francisco files 1st-of-its-kind lawsuit against largest ultraprocessed food manufacturers
Bay City News
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 10:11PM
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco filed a lawsuit Tuesday against several major companies that manufacture ultra-processed foods, alleging that the corporations knowingly created unhealthy and addictive products in order to boost sales.
"These products in our diets are deeply linked to serious health conditions," said City Attorney David Chiu in a speech during a briefing on the lawsuit. "Our case is about companies who designed food to be harmful and addictive and marketed their products to maximize profits."
Ultra-processed foods, or UPFs, are foods that have been created with chemical additives that have limited nutritional value and little to no food uses outside of processing. They include products like certain brands of chips, boxed macaroni, breakfast cereals, soda, cheese, candies, and processed meats.
Chiu stood in his office along with supporters of the suit like Supervisor Shamann Walton, San Francisco Public Health Director Daniel Tsai, and several members of the medical field.
"Ultra processed foods themselves cause unique health risks because of their chemicals and because of how those chemicals are combined," Chiu said. "You can see a few of the worst offenders right there."
Chiu pointed to a table covered in products considered to be ultra-processed, such as Oreo cookies, Lunchables, Cheetos, Hot Pockets, and Pringles.
"My mother used to bribe me with Pringles to get me into the pool to take swim lessons," Chiu said. "I still crave them to this day, but just in recent months, I've learned about the specific harms of just this product alone."
Studies have shown that overconsumption of UPFs can lead to adverse health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and depression.
The suit was filed against major food manufacturing companies including The Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle USA, General Mills, PepsiCo, Kellanova, WK Kellogg Co., Mars Incorporated, Conagra Brands, and Post Holdings.
