AP
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The metropolis of San Francisco filed a lawsuit towards among the nation’s top food manufacturers on Tuesday, arguing that ultraprocessed food from the likes of Coca-Cola and Nestle are accountable for a public well being disaster.
City Attorney David Chiu named 10 corporations within the lawsuit, together with the makers of such well-liked foods as Oreo cookies, Sour Patch Kids, Kit Kat, Cheerios and Lunchables. The lawsuit argues that ultraprocessed foods are linked to diseases akin to Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver illness and most cancers.
“They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body,” Chiu mentioned in a information launch. “These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused.”
Ultraprocessed foods embody sweet, chips, processed meats, sodas, vitality drinks, breakfast cereals and different foods which can be designed to “stimulate cravings and encourage overconsumption,” Chiu’s workplace mentioned within the launch. Such foods are “formulations of often chemically manipulated cheap ingredients with little if any whole food added,” Chiu wrote within the lawsuit.
The different corporations named within the lawsuit are PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz Company, Post Holdings, Mondelez International, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars Incorporated and ConAgra Brands.
None of the businesses named within the swimsuit instantly responded to emailed requests for remark.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been vocal concerning the unfavorable affect of ultraprocessed foods and their hyperlinks to persistent illness and has focused them in his Make America Healthy Again marketing campaign. Kennedy has pushed to ban such foods from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for low-income households.
An August report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that almost all Americans get greater than half their energy from ultraprocessed foods.
In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law to part out sure ultraprocessed foods from college meals over the subsequent decade.
San Francisco’s lawsuit cites a number of scientific research on the unfavorable affect of ultraprocessed foods on human well being.
“Mounting research now links these products to serious diseases—including Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, colorectal cancer, and even depression at younger ages,” University of California, San Francisco, professor Kim Newell-Green mentioned within the information launch.
The lawsuit argues that by producing and selling ultraprocessed foods, the businesses violate California’s Unfair Competition Law and public nuisance statute. It seeks a court docket order stopping the businesses from “deceptive marketing” and requiring them to take actions akin to client schooling on the well being dangers of ultraprocessed foods and limiting promoting and advertising of ultraprocessed foods to kids.
It additionally asks for monetary penalties to assist native governments with well being care prices attributable to the consumption of ultraprocessed foods.