San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sues largest manufacturers of ultra-processed foods

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San Francisco City Attorney Chiu sues largest manufacturers of ultra-processed foods​

December 2, 2025

Food conglomerates flooded the country with addictive ultra-processed foods with little nutritional value, knowing they would make Americans sick​

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 2, 2025) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced a first-of-its-kind lawsuit today against some of the country’s largest manufacturers of ultra-processed foods. The proliferation of ultra-processed foods in the American diet has been linked to a host of serious health conditions, imposing untold health care costs on Americans, as well as cities and states across the nation. The lawsuit alleges the food industry knew that their products were making people sick, but they continued to devise and market increasingly addictive and harmful products in order to maximize profits.

San Francisco filed the lawsuit today in San Francisco Superior Court against the nation’s leading ultra-processed food manufacturers—Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International, Post Holdings, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg, Mars Incorporated, and ConAgra Brands.

“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. “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. 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.”

“San Francisco families deserve to know what’s in their food,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. “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.”

Ultra-processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods are former whole foods that have been broken down, chemically modified, combined with additives, and then reassembled using industrial techniques such as molding, extrusion, and pressurization. They may contain additives that are only used in the manufacturing of ultra-processed foods, such as colors, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, thickeners, and foaming, anti-foaming, bulking, and gelling agents. Ultra-processed foods are distinct from genetically modified foods.

Ultra-processed foods include candies, chips, processed meats, sodas, energy drinks, boxed macaroni and cheese, breakfast cereals, and other products made using industrial methods that cannot typically be replicated in a home kitchen. These foods are a combination of chemicals designed to stimulate cravings and encourage overconsumption.

The health concerns around ultra-processed foods are not solely about the amount of calories, fat, sugar, salt, or carbohydrates consumed. Ultra-processed foods themselves cause unique health risks. The high levels of processing change the physical and chemical structure of the foods and change how humans digest them.

Consolidation of the food industry and erosion of choice
While the first ultra-processed foods appeared in the late 1800s, ultra-processed foods began to be mass produced to provide soldiers with shelf-stable foods during World Wars I and II. The food industry soon realized there were enormous profits to be made by selling ultra-processed foods to average Americans. These products were marketed as nutritious and convenient.

In the first half of the twentieth century, the food industry was largely made up of local food producers and regional companies. In the 1970s and 1980s, food companies began consolidating, and soon, a small number of companies had centralized the American food supply. This consolidation increased the amount of food processing and distribution.

The amount of ultra-processed food increased dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s, and now, approximately 70 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed. While the seemingly infinite number of products that line grocery aisles today gives the illusion of consumer choice, Americans are largely “choosing” between different configurations of chemicals that are making them sick. Most of these products are engineered by a handful of mega corporations.

Ultra-processed foods linked to negative health outcomes
Over the same period that the food industry flooded the country’s food supply with ultra-processed foods, Americans have gotten sicker. Obesity rates have exploded. Colorectal cancer has doubled in young adults. The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled, and diagnoses of inflammatory bowel diseases, like Crohn’s disease, have skyrocketed.

Recent studies have linked overconsumption of ultra-processed foods to a multitude of adverse health outcomes, including Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and depression.

“This lawsuit is a critical step toward protecting the health of our communities,” said San Francisco Director of Health Daniel Tsai. “For decades, ultra-processed foods have reshaped our diets. These products are not just unhealthy, they are engineered to be addictive, disproportionately harm low-income communities and communities of color, and contribute to rising rates of chronic illness like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The San Francisco Department of Public Health applauds City Attorney Chiu for taking bold action to make San Francisco a healthier place.”

“As a doctor and a mom, I see every day how ultra-processed foods harm our kids and our communities,” said UCSF Associate Clinical Professor Dr. Kim Newell-Green. “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. Today’s lawsuit is an important step toward holding food companies accountable for profiting from products that put our health at risk.”

Using Big Tobacco’s playbook
Starting in the 1960s, tobacco companies RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris jumped into the food industry with a series of acquisitions. RJ Reynolds purchased Hawaiian Punch, Nabisco, Del Monte and several other food and beverage brands. Philip Morris acquired General Foods and Kraft, making the combined tobacco-food company the world’s largest food business and the world’s largest consumer products company. A Philip Morris executive once explained, “You can now have a complete meal of Philip Morris foods and beverages, followed, of course, by one of our cigarettes.”

The tobacco companies integrated their food companies into their existing company structures rather than operating the food companies as independent entities. As a result, there was a transfer of people, information, and technology from Big Tobacco to the food and beverage industry. These companies capitalized on their understanding of the addictive qualities of cigarettes to design more addictive food products, and others in the ultra-processed food industry quickly followed suit.

Just like Big Tobacco, the ultra-processed food industry targeted children to increase their profits. The companies surrounded children with consistent product messages and inundated them with advertising using cartoon mascots like Tony the Tiger and Fred Flintstone. They used integrated marketing campaigns, collaborating with major toy manufacturers and child-centered media companies like Disney, Nickelodeon, Mattel, Nintendo, and Marvel. In the 1990s, Philip Morris-owned Kraft maintained a “Kids Task Force,” and the head of the Task Force bragged that their promotions would “reach about 95% of the kids in the target 6 to 12 age group in the U.S.”

The industry also targeted certain racial and ethnic communities as well as low-income consumers. Giant food conglomerates rolled out marketing campaigns that disproportionately targeted Black and Latino children, who have been targeted with 70 percent more ads for ultra-processed foods than their white counterparts.

Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of diabetes among Black Americans quadrupled. Black Americans are 70 percent more likely to develop diabetes than White Americans. In San Francisco, rates of hospitalization for diabetes are 3-6 times higher, and rates of death are 2-3 times higher, in Black communities compared to all other races and ethnicities. In San Francisco, people living in households earning less than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level are three times more likely to have Type 2 Diabetes than those who earn more.

Actual knowledge of harm
The health consequences of ultra-processed foods were apparent to the food industry decades ago. On April 8, 1999, the CEOs of America’s largest food companies met in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The CTO of Pillsbury James Behnke and VP of Kraft Michael Mudd called the meeting to warn industry leaders that their companies had gone too far in engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods for maximum consumption. Mudd explained to the industry leaders in attendance the devastating public health consequences of ultra-processed foods and warned that the industry’s conduct was costing the U.S. upwards of $100 billion a year and inflicting a public health toll rivaling that of tobacco. The presentation was not well received, and other CEOs present denigrated consumers’ health concerns.

Despite having actual knowledge of the harm they had caused, the ultra-processed food industry continued to inundate children with targeted marketing and make increasingly addictive products with little nutritional value.

Skyrocketing health care costs
Americans bear untold personal and financial costs of negative health outcomes linked to ultra-processed food consumption. National health expenditures have increased from 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1960, to almost 20 percent of the GDP today. By 2031, health care spending is expected to reach $7 trillion. Much of that burden is borne by the states and cities. Between Medi-Cal obligations, employee health benefit obligations, and public health initiatives, the State of California and City and County of San Francisco are spending billions of dollars per year on healthcare. In 2024, Medi-Cal accounted for approximately $124.1 billion in expenditures, and $3.95 billion of that spending is attributable to San Francisco.

Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in San Francisco. Diabetes is also a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death, and is the leading cause of kidney failure and need for dialysis. In 2016 in San Francisco, diabetes resulted in more than $85 million in hospitalization charges.

San Francisco has been working to combat the harmful effects of ultra-processed food consumption. The City created diabetes prevention and other wellness programs for its employees. San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton recently extended the Good Food Purchasing Standards Ordinance, which sets standards that encourage the purchase of minimally processed foods.

Supervisor Walton is building upon that work by introducing a resolution today that would urge City departments to analyze the extent to which they provide ultra-processed foods.

“For decades, our communities have paid the price for an industry that put profit ahead of people,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton. “We see the impact in rising rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and the strain on our health system. I thank the City Attorney for taking this groundbreaking step with this lawsuit. San Franciscans deserve transparency, real accountability, and a food system that prioritizes health instead of corporate profit. Today, I am also introducing a resolution to examine how ultra-processed foods show up in our own City departments, so we can begin to address the harm at its source and ensure our City is leading by example.”

The lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the People of the State of California in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges Defendant’s unfair and deceptive acts in connection with the sale and marketing of ultra-processed foods violate California’s Unfair Competition Law and public nuisance statute. The People seek an order, among other things, enjoining Defendants from deceptive marketing and requiring Defendants to take action to correct or lessen the effects of their behavior. The lawsuit also seeks restitution and civil penalties to remedy the public nuisance and help local governments offset astronomical health care costs associated with ultra-processed food consumption.

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, Andrus Anderson, DiCello Levitt, and Morgan & Morgan are representing the People in the lawsuit.

“We are proud to stand with the City of San Francisco in this groundbreaking litigation,” said DiCello Levitt Partner Diandra “Fu” Debrosse, who co-chairs the firm’s Mass Tort Litigation Practice Group and is a member of the firm’s Public Entity Group. “San Francisco is leading the way in holding corporations accountable for engineering a public health crisis that has and continues to compromise the health of San Francisco’s children and adults.”

“This case is about protecting the health and wellness of San Franciscans—and setting a precedent that will benefit communities across the country,” said Morgan & Morgan’s Rene Rocha, Partner, co-chair of Environmental & Toxic Tort Litigation. “Together, we aim to ensure that public health takes priority over corporate profits.”

“This litigation is about more than accountability, it’s about giving San Francisco the tools to protect its residents for generations to come,” said Jennie Lee Anderson, Partner, Andrus Anderson LLP. “By challenging these corporate practices, we’re helping to establish a legal framework that other cities can use to safeguard their communities.”

The case is People of the State of California v. Kraft Heinz Company, Inc., et al., San Francisco Superior Court. The complaint can be found here.

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