![](\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/grocery-store-shelves-AdobeStock-580x341.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/grocery-store-shelves-AdobeStock-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/div>\nMajor food companies, including Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and Coca-Cola, were hit with a new lawsuit in the U.S. on Tuesday accusing them of designing and marketing \u201cultra-processed\u201d foods to be addictive to children, causing chronic disease.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was filed<\/a> in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by Bryce Martinez, a Pennsylvania resident who alleges he developed type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, diagnosed at age 16, as a result of consuming the companies\u2019 products.<\/p>\n His lawyers at the firm Morgan & Morgan, a major U.S. plaintiffs\u2019 firm, described the case as the first of its kind.<\/p>\n The other companies being sued are Post Holdings, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle\u2019s U.S. arm, WK Kellogg, Mars, Kellanova and Conagra.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods,\u201d Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy for the Consumer Brands Association, an industry group representing food and beverage makers, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cAttempting 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Evidence has grown in recent years that highly processed foods are linked to a wide range of chronic health problems. Food described by researchers as \u201cultra-processed\u201d includes many packaged snack foods, sweets and soft drinks made with substances extracted from whole foods or synthesized artificially.<\/p>\n Current U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf has said that ultra-processed foods are likely addictive. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has criticized the food industry and the FDA for failing to regulate it.<\/p>\n Martinez\u2019s lawsuit alleges that the food companies have long known their products are harmful and deliberately engineered them to be as addictive as possible. It argues that they are drawing from the same \u201ccigarette playbook\u201d as tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, which for a time owned the companies that became Kraft Heinz and Mondelez.<\/p>\n The lawsuit includes claims for conspiracy, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and unfair business practices. It seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Lawsuits<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n