MAHA Figure Touts San Francisco Lawsuit Against Food Companies

December 5, 2025 – Members of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement are heralding a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ultraprocessed foodmakers, helped in part by messaging under the Trump administration. Earlier this week San Francisco’s Democratic city attorney, David Chiu, filed a lawsuit in the state s Superior Court against 10 of the nation’s top food manufacturers over their production and marketing of ultraprocessed foods (UPF).

The case marks the first government lawsuit against food companies over these products. Vani Hari, a member of the MAHA movement who has long criticized the food industry, said lawsuits like this one will better educate the public on harmful practices used by food companies in ultraprocessed foods.

And, she said, they would not have been possible without national leadership on the issue, including from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “These types of lawsuits and this type of movement would have never happened had it not been for Secretary Kennedy and President Trump making this a national issue,” Hari said during a MAHA Action call on Thursday.

“We are in a new era.” The San Francisco lawsuit is aimed at Kraft Heinz Company, Post Holdings, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg, Mars Incorporated, and others. The suit alleges that these companies have violated California’s unfair competition law and public nuisance statute, through advertising for UPFs like sodas, chips, breakfast cereals, processed meats and more.

The suit also accuses companies of intentionally engineering their foods to be more addictive, likening their methods to the tobacco industry. “These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused,” Chui said in a statement Tuesday.

Such rhetoric has been more common among national Republicans lately, due to the rise of Kennedy, a MAHA stalwart who has repeatedly linked UPFs with chronic disease. Federal government action to address these foods has so far been limited. Kennedy has, however, urged states to take action, particularly with issues like removing artificial food dyes.

He’s also traveled to states like West Virginia and Texas to promote efforts that align with MAHA. Kennedy has yet to comment on the San Francisco lawsuit on social media, but California has led on several initiatives that could be linked to MAHA, including legislation that defines UPF and sets to phase these foods out of school meals.

In 2023 California banned four common food additives. During Thursday’s MAHA call, Kyle Diamantas, deputy commissioner of the Human Foods Program at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), highlighted the agency’s MAHA actions, including efforts to define UPFs for the first time on a federal level.

To fully reach the MAHA goals will require steps outside the federal government’s control, including consumer education and private investments, he said. “We’re not going to regulate our way out of this.” (Link to this post). The post MAHA Figure Touts San Francisco Lawsuit Against Food Companies appeared first on Civil Eats.