Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo sued for $1 billion over addictive ingredients

Choosing healthy food isn't always as easy as you'd think. That could be a way to sum up the consumer lawsuit filed against PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz, which claims the ultra-processed ingredients used are addictive.

Lawsuit claims ultra-processed food is engineered to be addictive

The consumer complaint against Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, argues that ultra-processed food has been purposely made to be addictive. It claims that the food is scientifically engineered so people become hooked on it.

The claim even connects the playbook to the same one the tobacco industry used when it marketed its products to kids.

Not the first of its kind

This may feel like a brave new world in terms of consumer complaints, but it's actually not the first of its kind.

Just a few months ago, the city of San Francisco filed a claim stating the food manufacturers engineered a public health crisis. That particular lawsuit was thrown out by the judge.

The judge said the complaint was "woefully deficient" and wasn't able to prove its claim. That may be acting as a blueprint for this new claim, helping them to understand what they need to prove to the court.

Companies fight back

As you'd expect, the companies are fighting back, trying to get the cases thrown out before even going to trial. With this current lawsuit, PepsiCo was able to successfully petition the judge to move the case to state court and out of the federal court.

Food processing and manufacturing companies are also challenging the many new state laws about artificial ingredients and additives. So far, there's been some success for the companies in states like West Virginia and Texas where they blocked legislation.

Consumer complaints aren't slowing down

At this point, it also becomes a waiting game to see which consumer complaint actually makes it to trial. With them becoming more normalized and frequent, it could be just a matter of time.

Source: Food Dive