The Nanny State is coming after the Coca-Cola Company and other ‘Big Food’ brands right here in SF, as City Attorney David Chiu has sued the manufacturers of ultraprocessed foods, saying they’re behind spikes in cancer and diabetes.
It is very unusual that the San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, who spends a lot of time suing the Trump administration, would make his latest crusade a common goal he shares with the Trump administration’s whackadoodle HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy, Jr. And that new common goal is an aggressive opposition to ultraprocessed foods. Though of course, the Trump administration also lavishing subsidies on the corn and soy industries that make these ultraprocessed foods, and Trump eats about a half-dozen Big Macs every day, so it is difficult to take the administration seriously on this one.
City Attorney Chiu, however, is far more credible in his opposition. The New York Times reports that Chiu is suing the nations' ten largest manufacturers of ultraprocessed foods, in a lawsuit just filed in SF Superior Court, though it was filed on behalf of the State of California. The Times says Chiu is suing because "cities and counties have been burdened with the costs of treating diseases that stem from the companies’ products," and the lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” Chiu said in a Tuesday morning press 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. 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 companies Chiu is suing are the Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International (who make Oreo and Chips Ahoy), Post Holdings (Honeycomb and Peter Pan peanut butter), the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg, Mars Incorporated, and ConAgra Brands (Slim Jim and Chef Boyardee).
The Times estimates that 70% of the US food supply is now ultraprocessed foods. Chiu’s office describes these food products not as food, but as “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.”
In fact, the Times went shopping with Chiu at the Excelsior Safeway to scope out some of these products.
“He picked up a box of Lunchables, a ‘lunch combination’ as the box put it,” the Times explains. “Mr. Chiu struggled to pronounce the ingredients, listed in tiny type measuring a few inches long, which included diglycerides, xanthan gum, calcium propionate and cellulose powder ‘added to prevent caking.’”
“Modified food starch. Potassium sorbate,” Chiu said aloud, reading the ingredients. “It makes me sick that generations of kids and parents are being deceived and buying food that’s not food.
Ultraprocessed foods were popularized during World Wars I and II, as shelf-stable foods for soldiers. Though they were widely unleashed on consumers starting in the 1980s when the food industry consolidated into a small number of major companies. These companies found ultraprocessed foods to be cheaper and more profitable than, you know, real food.
The lawsuit accuses the food manufacturers of “unfair and deceptive acts in connection with the sale and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” and blames these foods for outbreaks in obesity, diabetes, cancer, and liver disease.
So will Chiu win, or will this be another embarrassment like SF’s widely mocked Happy Meal ban attempt of 2011?
The Times cites SF’s victories over cigarette-maker Philip Morris and lead paint manufacturers, though both of those wins came under previous City Attorney Dennis Herrera. For his part, though, Chiu did successfully win a $230 settlement from Walgreens for overprescribing opioids two years ago. So maybe there’s a chance he could pop the Coca-Cola Company and other conglomerates for selling wildly unhealthy food too.
Image: MIAMI, FLORIDA - APRIL 16: Boxes of sugary cereal, including those from General Mills, fill a store's shelves on April 16, 2025, in Miami, Florida. As the federal government looks to cut the U.S. budget, companies such as General Mills may lose sales if the cuts include funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since many people on the program buy breakfast cereals. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
