Lawsuit alleges major food makers knowingly used Big Tobacco tactics

Packaged food giants face a lawsuit alleging that they knowingly make addictive products that cause illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and target children with those products. Food and beverage marketers named in the lawsuit include Coca-Cola Co., Conagra Brands, General Mills, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz, Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, Post Holdings and WK Kellogg Co. Pennsylvania resident Bryce Martinez filed the lawsuit on Dec. 10 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The lawsuit alleges that Martinez developed type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease when he was 16 because he frequently ate the companies’ products. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today Martinez “is one of many casualties of defendants’ predatory profiteering,” the complaint says. “(He) is now suffering from these devastating diseases, and will continue to suffer for the rest of his life.” The lawsuit comes as the spotlight is turning upon the ingredients in some of the country’s most popular packaged food brands. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has broadly critiqued processed foods. He has vowed to remove them from school lunch programs and disallow them from being bought with food stamps. Kennedy has specifically discussed the harms of high-fructose corn syrup and processed grains. If his nomination is approved, he will oversee a department that has partial oversight of Americans’ diet through the Food and Drug Administration. Also: Food and beverage packaging design winners and losers The lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania earlier this month targets ultra-processed foods, which it says are “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food.” They contain little to no whole food, and have come to dominate the American diet since the 1980s, the lawsuit says. On average, children now derive two-thirds of their energy from ultra-processed foods. The lawsuit points to the rise of type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, which “had been largely confined to elderly alcoholics,” in children. It ties the increasing prevalence of such diseases to the 1980s, when tobacco companies bought major U.S. food companies. For example, tobacco company Philip Morris bought Kraft Foods in 1988. The tobacco companies then “used their cigarette playbook to fill our food environment with addictive substances that are aggressively marketed to children and minorities,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the companies that make ultra-processed foods are “well aware of the harms they are causing and (have) known it for decades. But they continue to inflict massive harm on society in a reckless pursuit of profits.” Representatives from each company did not respond to a request for comment. The exception was Conagra: Its spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2024 Global ad spending, rankings, analysis and profiles for the biggest marketers Click here The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association that represents many of the country’s packaged food companies, said in a statement that such companies adhere to FDA standards and “deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day.” “Americans deserve facts based on sound science in order to make the best choices for their health. There is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods,” Sarah Gallo, senior VP of Product Policy, said in a statement. “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.” At its heart, this lawsuit is a product liability case, said R. Mark McCareins, a clinical professor of business law at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “The cost of doing business in the U.S., with our civil justice system, are suits like this,” he said. “The fact that somebody filed a lawsuit does not mean that … the companies did anything wrong, and they are more than free to defend themselves.” In such cases, attorneys typically must prove causation—in this case, did the ultra-processed foods cause the diseases—and that the companies knew about the harm. Typically, expert testimony is vital.

Lawsuit alleges major food makers knowingly used Big Tobacco tactics

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