By bizn_fun 
Their products range from cookies and sweets to cereal and granola bars.
“These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement.
Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy at the Consumer Brands Association, an industry trade group, said an “agreed upon scientific definition” of ultra-processed foods does not exist.
“Attempting 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,” Ms Gallo said in a statement.
Food and beverage manufacturers, she added, are introducing new products with more protein and fibre, less sugar and sodium and without synthetic colour additives.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court and one of the first of its kind, argues that the growing availability of ultra-processed foods has coincided with a “dramatic increase” in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and other chronic illnesses.
“This case is about food products with hidden health harms,” the complaint states.
The city is requesting monetary penalties and a statewide order forcing the food giants to change their “deceptive” marketing tactics.