Cities sue food makers

San Francisco filed the first municipal lawsuit alleging ultraprocessed food companies violated state unfair‑competition and public‑nuisance laws by selling and marketing products that drive chronic disease and local treatment costs. The suit names 10 major food corporations and seeks damages to cover municipal health expenditures tied to diet‑related illness. — If other cities follow, litigation could become a central governance tool to internalize the social costs of industrial food production and alter corporate marketing, product design, and public‑health policy.