By the time systems reach a certain level of complexity, debates about intent, blame, or ideology stop being useful. What matters is stability. In complex environments, opacity is unstable. It creates asymmetries: some actors see the system clearly, others don’t. Decisions get optimized locally while consequences accumulate globally. Over time, that imbalance produces pressure – […]
Whenever ultra-processed food is compared to tobacco, the reaction is predictable. That’s an exaggeration, food isn’t cigarettes. Emotionally, that feels true. Structurally, it misses the point. The comparison isn’t about morality or outcomes. It’s about how systems behave once certain conditions are met. Tobacco didn’t become a public crisis because smoking was unhealthy. That was […]
For a long time, retailers occupied a comfortable position in the food system: We just sell what people buy. That claim made sense when visibility was limited. When all products looked roughly the same on paper, and when the effects of processing couldn’t be meaningfully compared, neutrality was a reasonable stance. That era has ended. […]
For years, the conversation around ultra-processed food stayed in a familiar place: Personal responsibility. If people got sick, it was framed as a matter of choice – what they ate, how much they exercised, how disciplined they were. That framing worked as long as food was treated as a collection of individual products making isolated […]
San Francisco UPF Lawsuit #8: The Bliss Point The “Bliss Point” is not just a culinary term; it is a precise mathematical and psychophysical formula. It represents the moment the food industry shifted from being a provider of nourishment to an industry of engineered “craveability.” This is the point where food chemists discovered how to […]
The GRAS framework was built to evaluate isolated, time‑tested substances, not industrial systems made from dozens of interacting components. Source In the News Young Adults Face Prediabetes Risk from UPF Consumption A USC Study from the Keck School of Medicine links ultra-processed food intake to blood sugar dysregulation in youth. Researchers tracked 85 young adults […]
Whole foods let people eat more, feel fuller, and consume fewer calories – passive calorie control is real. Source In the News San Francisco’s Public-Nuisance Case Hits National TV A PBS NewsHour segment explains why San Francisco is suing 11 major UPF manufacturers, highlighting addiction-style design, chronic disease costs, and parallels to Big Tobacco. Once […]
Food Has Become Measurable Most people think the San Francisco Ultra-Processed Food lawsuit is about food. It isn’t. It exists because food has become measurable. For decades, harm from ultra-processed foods lived in a gray zone. Ingredients were evaluated one at a time. Labels disclosed fragments. Health outcomes were dismissed as “multifactorial.” Responsibility was pushed […]
San Francisco UPF Lawsuit: Blog #4: The 4 Hurdles to Prove Now that we’ve established that the San Francisco lawsuit is a Public Nuisance case – the same “blueprint” that brought down Big Tobacco – the next question is… What Does the City Have to Prove in Court to Win the UPF Case? To win […]
