Ultraprocessed Foods in the Global Food System: The Role of US Tobacco Companies.

Abstract

We sought to characterize the involvement of US tobacco companies in the global food industry, where they disseminated ultraprocessed and hyper-palatable foods, and the methods they used to expand globally. We reviewed and extracted data from 113 primary source industry documents. US tobacco companies developed billion-dollar food businesses that were prominent internationally between the 1980s and mid-2000s. Tobacco companies developed their international food businesses with the same strategies they used to establish their international tobacco businesses. Our findings suggest that US tobacco companies used their extensive experiences from their tobacco businesses to maximize the successes of their international food businesses in disseminating ultra-processed foods globally. Regulation of the multiple addictive products that tobacco companies have disseminated to markets globally may be needed to protect public health. (<i>Am J Public Health</i>. 2026;116(7):921-931. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308501).