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In the 1980s, Big Tobacco started playing a major role in America\u2019s food industry, buying up companies like General Foods, Kraft, and Nabisco.<\/p>\n
And that role, according to a new study<\/a>, included using R&D from the cigarette business to make ultra-processed foods, such as the enduringly popular Lunchables brand of kid-friendly prepackaged meals and snacks. Such foods, the study reveals, were engineered \u201cfor consumer pleasure and appeal” with help from cigarette-related research on flavor engineering, packaging developments, and more.<\/p>\n The study was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health<\/em>. It\u2019s one article in an entire issue<\/a> focused on ultra-processed foods, their connection to chronic diseases and addiction, and how tobacco companies essentially created \u201cthe modern ultra-processed foods industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura Schmidt, a professor of medicine and health policy researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who authored the study, explored the topic by asking why Big Tobacco companies got into the food business in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tobacco giant Philip Morris bought General Foods in 1985 and acquired Kraft in 1988. (It was spun out in 2007.) This coincided with the rise of public health concerns, criticisms, and lawsuits against the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n That expansion was more than just a way to diversify at a time when Big Tobacco’s business was facing scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason they got into the food business was because they wanted to use tobacco R&D assets to make food,\u201d Schmidt says. She outlines how that happened through a case study of Lunchables, using internal documents made public from litigation of the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n Lunchables were in premarket development at General Foods when Philip Morris bought that company; the products were later released by Kraft. (The two food divisions merged in 1989.) Today the brand is manufactured by Kraft Heinz.<\/p>\n In a statement to Fast Company<\/em>, Nicolas Amaya, president of Kraft Heinz\u2019s North American market, emphasized that the company hasn\u2019t had any affiliation with Philip Morris since 2007.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we can speak to is the food we make today,” Amaya said. “Our portfolio today includes affordable options with more protein, more whole grains, less sugar and sodium, and no artificial dyes.”<\/p>\n Lunchables are still considered an ultra-processed food, part of a category the study connects to the tobacco industry’s R&D process. However, Amaya said, Kraft Heinz continues to “evolve our portfolio based on consumer preferences and feel proud of the role we play in helping people live delicious, healthy and balanced lives.\u201d<\/p>\n While Philip Morris owned Kraft, executives spoke about the \u201ctechnical synergies\u201d between its food and tobacco product lines. <\/p>\n It even created a Technical Synergies Committee to streamline R&D for chemical additives and processing and packaging technologies across both cigarettes and food. <\/p>\n One way Philip Morris used its experience creating cigarettes to make products like Lunchables was through its R&D of flavorings, colors, and chemicals.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Philip Morris bought up these food companies, they already had these massive libraries of flavor and colors,\u201d Schmidt says. <\/p>\n Sometimes the company would develop chemical additives that didn\u2019t make it into cigarettes (it had patents on artificial sweeteners, for example), but that R&D was \u201con the shelf\u201d when it got into the food industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two product lines even shared supply chains for \u201crefined agricultural ingredients and chemical additives,\u201d Schmidt\u2019s paper says, noting that they also used the same processing and packaging technologies, including “chemically encapsulated \ufb02avors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fast Company<\/em> reached out to Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris USA, for comment.<\/p>\n Philip Morris’s approach, Schmidt says, led to the rise in ultra-processed foods, which now account for 70% of packaged foods in the U.S. and 62% of the calories in children’s diets. Studies have linked<\/a> ultra-processed foods to a rise in obesity and health concerns like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n Lots of foods can be considered \u201cprocessed\u201d (like bread, for instance). And many of the approaches to industrial manufacturing, processing, and marketing could be considered common strategies for all consumer packaged goods companies that reach global audiences.<\/p>\nWhy Big Tobacco got into the food industry<\/h2>\n
\u201cTechnical synergies\u201d between food and cigarettes<\/h2>\n
What distinguishes ultra-processed foods<\/h2>\n