UC Berkeley discussion traces tobacco companies’ expansion into food
A Berkeley event examined the industry’s acquisitions of major food brands and its alleged connection to the growth of ultra-processed foods.
A UC Berkeley discussion examined how tobacco companies expanded into food manufacturing and argued that their business practices helped drive the rise of ultra-processed foods in the United States.
The discussion identified R.J. Reynolds’ 1963 acquisition of Hawaiian Punch as an early step into the food sector. In later decades, R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris acquired food businesses and brands including Del Monte, Nabisco, General Foods, Kraft and 7UP.
Laura Schmidt, a health policy professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said ultra-processed foods account for about 60% of calories in Americans’ diets. Examples discussed included cookies, soft drinks, instant noodles, fish sticks and cereals.
Schmidt linked the scaling-up of ultra-processed foods in the mid-1980s with rising obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. She said the period also coincided with some of the largest food companies being owned by tobacco companies.
The discussion took place at UC Berkeley on 5 May 2025 and was co-sponsored by the Berkeley Food Institute and Berkeley Public Health. It was moderated by Isabel Madzorera and featured in the Berkeley Talks podcast.
The supplied material presents the relationship between tobacco-company ownership, ultra-processed foods and chronic disease as the speaker’s interpretation. It does not independently establish direct causation.
