Kraft, General Mills Accused of Addicting Kids to Processed Food

Major packaged food producers like Kraft Heinz Co., Coca-Cola Co., General Mills Inc., and others knowingly designed and marketed “ultra-processed” foods to addict children, and subsequently unleashed a plethora of widespread health problems, a class action alleged.

Ultra-processed food “is engineered to hack the physiological structures of our brains” and the food giants “purposefully sought to introduce addictive qualities into their UPF, using the same experimental psychology research pioneered by the tobacco industry to make cigarettes more addictive,” the filing said. The food companies “got rich by robbing the health of American children,” according to the complaint, which was filed ...