In August 2025, a federal judge in Philadelphia dismissed claims against a group of food manufacturers (Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mondelez, Kellog, General Mills, etc.) accusing them of engineering ultra-processed foods to be addictive and harmful. In December, however, the City of San Francisco filed an even more comprehensive lawsuit against many of the same companies, seeking to recover financial penalties for the immense healthcare costs to uninsured consumers as well as to end deceptive and child-targeted marketing of foods containing unhealthy additives. In the context of consumer class-actions, claims of “all natural” and “no preservatives” have become a favorite target, with Coca-Cola losing a motion to dismiss a Southern District of New York lawsuit over whether citric acid counts as a preservative. Newly filed cases include separate suits against Keurig Dr. Pepper for claiming Mott’s apple juice is “100% Juice” despite the presence of ascorbic acid, and against Nature’s Garden alleging that mixed berries “coated in creamy yogurt” are actually coated in sugar and palm oil with just a tiny amount of actual yogurt.
PartnerScott has focused on complex commercial litigation and arbitration involving advertising and marketing law, class action defense, administrative investigations, contractual disputes, consumer fraud, and business ...