The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host an online forum event on February 12, 2026, from 2:00–3:30 PM ET, examining the highprofile lawsuit brought by the City of San Francisco against manufacturers of ultraprocessed foods and its broader implications for public health policy. Featuring legal, public health, and policy experts, the forum will explore how litigation may shape future approaches to regulating ultraprocessed foods at the local, national, and global levels. The discussion will consider accountability, regulatory authority, and lessons from related policy efforts in the United States and internationally. The event will be moderated by CUNY SPH Professor Dr. Jen Cadenhead and will include San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu as a confirmed speaker, with additional panelists to be announced.  

This forum builds on the Institute’s ongoing work examining the health and political impacts of ultraprocessed foods and related prior online forums such as “Junk Food Politics: How Beverage and Fast Food Industries Are Reshaping Emerging Economies,” “Targeting UltraProcessed Food to Improve Nutritional Health: The Value and Limits of a Framing,” and “Denormalizing Predatory Marketing of Unhealthy Food, and UltraProcessed Foods: Their Role in Dietary Health and Disease” among others.