Ultra-Processed Foods Lawsuit

Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers is representing those who have suffered health problems due to ultra-processed foods.

Call us today for a free consultation if you or a loved one, especially a child, has been diagnosed with a serious health condition such as obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or type-2 diabetes due to consumption of ultra-processed foods.

Scientific studies, including a January 2025 study, link ultraprocessed food with significant health problems in children. As a result lawsuits are being filed against major food companies, accusing the food industry of unfair business practices, deliberately creating addictive foods, knowing about the health risks associated with the foods, and failing to warn about the risks.

These lawsuits are known as product liability lawsuits. We have been handling product liability claims since 1990 and have recovered in excess of $750 million for our clients. We have extensive experience in filing lawsuits against product makers, including food and beverage makers, and this experience will allow us to recover the most money possible on your behalf.

We won’t charge any fee to handle your ultraprocessed food lawsuit until and unless we recover financial compensation for you, meaning you will never owe any money out of your own pocket or any upfront fee. Our only fee to handle your lawsuit will be a percentage of any compensation we recover for you.

Call us today for a free consultation, fill out this page’s free case evaluation form or text us from this page if you or a loved one, especially a child, was diagnosed with a serious health condition due to consuming ultra-processed foods. Let us hold the food industry accountable for causing chronic disease. Call us today.

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

The Consumer Brands Association is an industry group representing food as well as beverage makers. An association executive tried to downplay ultra-processed food litigation, blasting critics for demonizing food and claiming that it exacerbates health disparities and is misleading to classify foods as being unhealthy due to being processed.

However, “ultra-processed foods,” or UPF, is actually a food categorization defined by a scientific framework known as the NOVA System which is used widely in the scientific community.

Traditional international diets are healthy despite diverging in nutrient content. As an example, Mediterranean diets have a lot of fat, Latin American diets have a lot of carbohydrates, and Asian diets have a lot of salt. Regardless, all promote positive health outcomes and healthful lives.

UPF are different than foods composing diets which are traditional.

UPF are imitations of food – edible substances which are industrially produced. UPF are formulated with cheap industrial ingredients via industrial processes. These highly processed foods aren’t modified foods, but rather formulations made entirely or mostly of fractionated substances which have undergone chemical modifications such as hydrogenation or hydrolysis. These foods, including many packaged snack foods, contain ingredients which have rare or no culinary use, such as:

• High-fructose corn syrup
• Fructose
• Invert sugar
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Dextrose
• Maltodextrin
• Interesterfied or hydrogenated oils
• Lactose
• Soya protein isolate
• Hydrolysed proteins
• Casein
• Gluten
• Mechanically separated meat
• Whey protein

In addition, they contain additives such as:

• Flavors
• Colors
• Emulsifiers
• Flavor enhancers
• Artificial sweeteners
• Emulsifying salts
• Thickeners
• Foaming agents
• Anti-foaming agents
• Bulking agents
• Carbonating agents
• Gelling agents
• Glazing agents

Additives get used to disguise unpleasant properties created by packaging, processes or ingredients used during UPF manufacturing. They are also used to give final products intense sensory properties which are attractive to taste, smell, touch or see.

The substances get assembled into final products via industrial processes like pre-frying, moulding and extrusion. Attractive, sophisticated packaging is then used, typically composed of synthetic materials.

The easy way to identify UPF is to check the ingredients and see if they contain substances that are rarely or never used in kitchens. If they do, the food is UPF.

Ingredients and processes used to manufacture UPF are designed for the creation of products which are highly profitable and hyper-palatable.

UPF are intentionally engeineered to be irresistible, addictive and overconsumed.

UPF has displaced real food due to these features as well as aggressive marketing, including marketing in schools and to children.

Common examples of UPF include:

• Candy
• Ice cream
• Cookies
• Chips
• Instant noodles
• Instant soups
• Frozen pizzas
• Instant rice
• Ready-to-eat meals
• Processed meats
• Soft drinks
• Energy drinks
• Cereal
• Waffles
• Processed cheese
• Margarine

According to a 2019 study, UPF compose over 50% of the average American diet.

Are Ultra-Processed Foods Addictive?

Yes. Millions of dollars have been spent by the UPF industry towards figuring out how to hack peoples’ brains and physiological hardware which transmits messages through our bodies.

A December 2021 study found that similar neural pathways are triggered by UPF as are triggered by substances involved in substance use disorders. In other words, the researchers found that UPF addict people in a similar way to drugs. The study found that UPF, cocaine and cigarettes trigger impulsivity, emotion dysregulation and dysfunction in dopaminergic reward signaling.

A 2024 study found that UPF trigger neural responses related to reward which are similar to the responses generated by cigarettes or cocaine.

The Surgeon General, in 1988, issued a report which identified tobacco products as being addictive based upon three criteria:

• They cause compulsive or highly controlled use
• They cause psychoactive effects by affecting the brain
• They reinforce behavior

A 2022 study found that UPF meet the Surgeon General’s criteria for being labeled an addictive substance.

One hallmark of substances that are addictive is their ability to trigger use which is compulsive. Most cardiovascular disease and diabetes patients aren’t able to adhere to dietary plans which are medically recommended if the plans involve reducing UPF intake.

Reviewing the food diaries of those who have eating disorders found that one hundred percent of foods eaten during binge eating episodes were UPF.

The psychoactive drug effects of ultra-processed sweets have been measured and found to be similar to that of 1.5 mg of nicotine administered intravenously. UPF increase dopamine in the brain similarly to nicotine which is delivered orally.

Substances which reinforce behavior are defined by the Surgeon General as tohse which sufficiently reward in order to maintain administration by the self. Both children and adults will continue self-administering UPF even once satiated.

UPF have a reinforcing nature because they can rapidly deliver sweet tastes, fat and refined carbohydrates. Animals choose to self-administer sweet flavors over cocaine over 80 percent of the time.

Allegations Against Ultra-Processed Food Companies

It is alleged that UPF companies:

• Created addictive substances: It is alleged that UPF have been designed to addict people, utilizing techniques pioneered by the tobacco industry in order to manipulate brain chemistry and consumer behavior. These techniques include using specific processing methods and additives which enhance palatability, driving consumption way past what is healthy or necessary.
• Targeted vulnerable populations: It is alleged that UPF manufacturers aggressively marketed UPF to kids, especially minority children, utilizing tactics such as vibrant packaging, promotions integrated with popular media, and cartoon characters. Lawsuits allege the marketing is deceptive and contributes towards environments where young people are affected by diseases related to diet.
• Created health consequences: It is alleged that UPF being introduced to the public has coincided with strong increases in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type-2 diabetes and childhood obesity. These are conditions which were once rare in kids but are now quite common, and this suggests that they are linked to UPF.

UPF Companies Knew What They Were Doing

The time span from the 1980’s through the 2000’s saw a systematic transfer of technologies, information, knowledge and people from the tobacco industry to the food and beverage industry.

For example, a research and development group belonging to tobacco company RJ Reynolds coordinated design of food and cigarette formulations, which included analyzing additives and flavors which could get used in food and tobacco products, and the biological activity that resulted from consumption of the products.

In other words, the goal of this group was to understand why its cigarettes were addictive, and utilize this knowledge to design food and tobacco products which were more addictive.

Philip Morris did research into how their products affected the brain, and their scientists regularly collaborated with General Foods and Kraft.

Over the years, UPF manufacturers have followed the example of big tobacco in terms of studying addiction science.

Nestle, since the early 2000’s, has spent millions every year on research towards understanding sensory perception. The company currently employs sensory psychologists who study issues which relate to brain activity.

PepsiCo operates a research and development organization which studies human biology, the brain’s physiological responses, and sensory chemoreception. For example, they measure brain activity in order to guide product formulations, and use robots which have human tastebuds hardwired into computers which simulate humans’ neurochemical responses to formulations of products.

In other words, UPF manufacturers are employing advanced science to knowingly formulate the most addictive foods possible.

In addition, it is alleged that tobacco companies RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris used techniques developed for tobacco marketing to develop UPF products, marketing them towards children and minorities. It is alleged the companies use advertising messages which have been found to appeal to kids, child-sized packaging and cartoon mascots to sell UPF.

It has been clear from the very beginning that marketing UPF to children is predatory. In the 1970’s, Sesame Street’s creator referred to marketing UPF to children as “like shooting fish in a barrel… grotesquely unfair.”

In 1978, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated that kids are too naive to be able to perceive the purpose of commercials – to sell products – and view them as informational programming.

It has been explained by an advertising executive that when you sell children on products, if they can’t get them, they will throw tantrums until they get them. A director of children’s programming and psychologist noted that this turns children into unwitting salesmen who nag parents to break down their sales resistance.

The FTC has warned that advertising food to children may pose a threat to the health of children. The American Medical Association has characterized the advertising of food to children as counter-productive regarding encouraging sound nutritional habits.

In other words, UPF makers have known for decades that their advertising poses a risk to the health of children.

Even worse, though, UPF makers have funded biased studies in order to minimize the risks of foods.

Food manufacturers will use deceptive marketing to imply that foods are healthy even though they are dangerous, such as by labeling products as natural or low-fat even though they are high in additives or sugar.

Health Conditions Linked to Ultra-Processed Foods

An increasing body of scientific research has linked numerous long-term side effects and health risks with UPF, including:

• Obesity
• Type-II diabetes
• Colorectal cancer
• Hypertension
• Breast cancer
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Cardiovascular disease

A 2020 study has linked UPF to cancers, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Studies from 2023 and 2024 have linked UPF with type-2 diabetes.

A 2023 study has linked UPF with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

A 2024 study has linked UPF with hypertension.

Studies from 2024 and 2025 have linked UPF with obesity.

A 2022 study has linked UPF with colorectal cancer.

How Ultra-Processed Foods Harm Children

UPF can cause the following in children:

• Chronic inflammation: Stabilizers and preservatives alter gut microbiomes, which triggers systemic inflammation which can lead to heart disease or obesity.
• Metabolic dysfunction: UPF contain lots of sugars and refined carbs, causing a higher risk of type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes
• Nutritional deficiencies: UPF, when they replace whole foods, deprive kids of essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins and fiber, weakening health.
• Hormonal disruption: Sweeteners and artifician dyes interfere with the balance of hormones, affecting appetite regulation, metabolism and growth.

Kids are particularly vulnerable to harmful effects from UPF because their immune systems, metabolisms and bodies are still developing. Regularly consuming UPF can increase the risk of:

• Faster developing health issues: Kids who eat UPF on a regular basis have a higher risk of experiencing accelerated inflammatory and metabolic damage. This increases the chances of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity and diabetes.
• Food addiction and habit formation: When kids are exposed to UPF, it alters their taste preference, leading to becoming dependent upon nutrient-poor, overly processed foods. This can lead to bad eating habits that persist well into adulthood.
• Long-term risks which are compounded: Eating UPF for years increases the chances of developing chronic health issues, leading to a snowball effect which worsens health outcomes.

Who Is Eligible for an Ultra-Processed Food Lawsuit?

You may qualify to file an ultra-processed food lawsuit if you or a loved one, especially a child, has been diagnosed with a serious health condition such as obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or type-2 diabetes due to consumption of ultra-processed foods.

The Average Ultra-Processed Foods Lawsuit Settlement

There is no average settlement amount in these lawsuits. The value of your case will depend on the damages you have incurred. Damages we can help you recover financial compensation for in a lawsuit include:

Medical Bills

This includes costs for managing, treating and diagnosing health conditions caused by consumption of UPF.

Pain and Suffering

This includes compensation for reduced quality of life, emotional distress and physical pain caused by health conditions caused by consumption of UPF.

Lost Earning Potential and Wages

This includes a reduction of ability to do future work, or financial losses which are due to time missed from work.

Future Medical Costs

This means the anticipated costs of ongoing management or treatment of chronic health problems.

Companies Named in UPF Lawsuit

Companies named in the initial UPF lawsuit include:

• Mondelez International
• Post Holdings
• Coca-Cola
• PepsiCo
• General Mills
• Nestle
• Kellanova
• WK Kellogg
• Mars Incorporated
• Conagra Brands

Contact an Ultra-Processed Food Attorney Today

Call us today for a free case evaluation if you or a loved one, especially a child, has been diagnosed with a serious health condition such as obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or type-2 diabetes due to consumption of ultra-processed foods.

We have over 30 years of experience handling product liability cases, have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients, and won’t charge you any fee until and unless we recover compensation on your behalf.

Call us today.