In 2025, hundreds of lawsuits targeting food and beverage companies for false or misleading advertising and ultra-processed foods were filed, with more expected in the new year.
While suits targeting food and beverage companies aren't anything new, legal experts have opined that they have seen an increase in litigation in recent years as conversations around ingredients and additives increase at the federal level and within food and beverage companies themselves. Blank Rome partner Erica Graves is slated to take over as chair for the firm’s food and beverage team and told Law.com that she has seen an increase in the number of false advertising suits in the industry, amidst an increase in concern regarding the environment and health and safety of products.
“It’s an interesting time in that people are very concerned about both health and the environment, and certainly at the federal level we have seen you know, a lot of talk and discussion and concern about, you know, certain kinds of dyes, ultra processed food, and that kind of thing, but not necessarily with clear regulation or guidance, at least at this time," Graves said. “There’s been a dearth of federal guidance, and states and consumers really step in to fill that void.”
Marketing Products' Health Benefits
In November, PepsiCo announced that it would begin rolling out Cheetos and Doritos snack options without artificial dyes to "meet consumer demand."
Blank Rome partner Charles S. Marion, the current co-chair of the firm's food and beverage team, shared that some false labeling and advertising suits have been targeting marketing commonly seen on food and drink packaging, including terms like "all natural." PepsiCo has also seen its fair share of litigation over these branding choices.
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Growing Area of Liability
Graves and Marion said ultra-processed foods litigation has been an area of increased popularity, which they predict will continue in 2026.
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Graves said that various states have enacted their own legislation to regulate similar areas of the industry, including packaging and ingredients. She shared that numerous red states have begun enacting ingredient disclosure laws, including Texas, which requires a warning label for certain ingredients and dyes, like Red Dye 40 and Yellow 5; West Virginia, which bans similar dyes; and Louisiana, which passed new legislation barring schools from serving foods with certain additives, including dyes and preservatives.
“There’s just a patchwork of really tricky state-based regulations on environmental claims and packaging,” Graves said, noting that "companies don’t usually want to have different West Coast and East Coast foods. They want to have packaged foods that they can send everywhere.”
“In America, consumer litigation is sort of regulation because the federal and state regulatory bodies tend to be pretty hands-off in terms of what you can put on your packaging and policing, whether or not you’re doing it right. And consumer litigation sort of steps in and fills that space," Graves said.
“I think it is a growing area that food producers are going to be concerned about," she added.
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“Ultra-Processed Foods: An Emerging Area of Litigation for Food, Beverage Companies, Attorneys Say,” by Riley Brennan, was published in Law.com on December 23, 2025.
