The city of San Francisco on Tuesday sued 10 major food companies, alleging that they marketed and sold ultraprocessed foods that they knew were harmful to human health and had been designed to be addictive.

The lawsuit argues that the foods have contributed to a public health crisis in San Francisco and across the nation, saddling cities and other governments with medical costs associated with the consequences of diets high in processed food. It’s a first-of-its-kind attempt to hold food conglomerates accountable for the proliferation of these foods and their established health risks.

“We have reached a tipping point in the scientific research about the harm of these products,” said David Chiu, the city attorney for San Francisco, in a news conference Tuesday morning. He added that “the

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