Coca-cola soda is shown on display during a preview of a new Walmart Super Center prior to its opening in Compton, California, US, Jan 10, 2017.Major food companies, including Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and Coca-Cola were hit with a new lawsuit in the US on Tuesday accusing them of designing and marketing "ultra-processed" foods to be addictive to children, causing chronic disease.
His lawyers at the firm Morgan & Morgan, a major US plaintiffs' firm, described the case as the first of its kind. "There is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods," 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.
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 "ultra-processed" includes many packaged snack foods, sweets and soft drinks made with substances extracted from whole foods or synthesised artificially.