Food companies have challenged hundreds of government measures aimed at tackling obesity, with the WHO accusing the industry of delaying policies designed to protect public health The battle over unhealthy food is no longer only being fought in supermarkets. Governments around the world are introducing warning labels, sugar taxes and advertising restrictions in an attempt to tackle rising rates of obesity and diet-related disease.

But according to the World Health Organization, some of the world’s biggest food companies are fighting back through the courts. An international investigation has uncovered hundreds of legal challenges brought against governments attempting to introduce measures aimed at changing how unhealthy products are sold and promoted. The findings have triggered a response from WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who accused parts of the food industry of using legal action to slow down public health policies.

Hundreds of legal battles uncovered

The investigation, led by The Guardian alongside Lighthouse Reports, researchers and media partners across four continents, examined lawsuits filed between 2010 and 2025. It identified 235 legal challenges against policies including front-of-pack warning labels, sugary drink taxes, restrictions on marketing aimed at children and rules limiting health claims on food packaging.

Researchers found that around three-quarters of those cases were ultimately unsuccessful. However, the legal battles still had an impact, delaying health measures by an average of two and a half years. Public health experts say those delays can prevent governments from introducing policies designed to reduce consumption of products linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The fight over food moves into courtrooms

For years, campaigns against unhealthy diets focused mainly on personal choices, encouraging people to eat better and exercise more. That approach has increasingly shifted as governments argue that consumers are making choices in an environment shaped by aggressive marketing, cheap processed products and easy access to foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. As a result, countries have introduced stronger measures designed to influence behaviour before health problems develop.

Warning labels on products, restrictions on advertising to children and taxes on sugary drinks have become some of the most common tools used by governments trying to reduce the impact of poor diets. Food manufacturers have challenged many of those measures, arguing that they can damage businesses and restrict consumer choice.

Major companies named

The investigation found that 38 per cent of identifiable lawsuits were linked to eight major parent companies: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mondelēz International, Kellogg’s, Danone, Ferrero, Xignux and Heartland Food Products Group. The companies involved have argued that legal challenges are a legitimate way to question regulations they believe are unfair, excessive or unsupported by evidence.

Health organisations disagree, arguing that legal battles can delay policies that could prevent illness and reduce pressure on healthcare systems. The WHO says governments should not abandon measures designed to improve public health because of legal threats from powerful industries.

Why ultra-processed food is under scrutiny

Ultra-processed foods include many packaged snacks, sugary drinks, confectionery, processed meats, ready meals and other products made using industrial ingredients and additives. Not all processed foods are considered unhealthy, but research has increasingly linked diets high in ultra-processed products with higher risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other serious health conditions.

Scientists continue to study exactly why these foods are associated with poorer health outcomes, but concern has grown enough for governments to introduce new regulations. The WHO argues that individuals alone cannot solve the problem when unhealthy products are heavily marketed and widely available.

A global health battle

The legal disputes uncovered by the investigation have taken place in countries including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, the United Kingdom and the United States. While many lawsuits have failed, health campaigners say the process itself can slow progress by forcing governments to spend time and money defending policies instead of implementing them. Dr Tedros has called on countries to continue introducing measures backed by scientific evidence and has urged food companies to work with governments rather than challenge public health protections.

The dispute reflects a much bigger argument over who should decide how food is regulated: governments responding to health data, or companies defending their commercial interests. For shoppers, the outcome could affect everything from the labels on supermarket products to the adverts children see online. The fight over ultra-processed food may be happening in courtrooms, but its consequences could end up on every kitchen table.

Passengers flying with airlines served by Groundforce could face check-in queues, boarding delays or luggage problems at Barcelona Airport from August 4, even if their flight still operates. The indefinite strike affects one major ground-handling company, not the entire airport.

Groundforce walkout begins at midnight on August 4 

All 1,179 Groundforce employees based at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport have been called to join an indefinite strike beginning at midnight on Tuesday August 4. The action involves staff working across ground assistance, check-in, passenger boarding and flight coordination. Groundforce’s airport operations also include ramp work and the loading and unloading of baggage. But this doesn’t mean Barcelona Airport is closing or that every flight will suddenly be cancelled. Groundforce is one of several companies providing services at El Prat, and Spain’s Transport Ministry has assured minimum services to keep a proportion of its airlines’ flights operating.

However, reduced staffing could affect check-in desks, boarding, aircraft turnaround times and the arrival of checked luggage. The actual impact will depend on how many employees join the strike and which individual services Groundforce assigns to its protected flights.

What major international airlines appear on the Groundforce list

The union announcement named Air Europa, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Scandinavian Airlines and Air Arabia among Groundforce’s airline customers in Barcelona. For British travellers, Aena’s current baggage directory also identifies Groundforce as the luggage-service handler for Jet2.com. Other listed airlines include Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, Finnair, ITA Airways, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Luxair.

Not every popular carrier at Barcelona uses Groundforce for baggage. Aena lists British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling under South Europe Ground Services, while easyJet and Ryanair appear separately. It would therefore be safe to assume that services with these airlines should run as usual. 

Airline contracts can differ between baggage, check-in, boarding and other ground operations, so passengers should confirm the situation with the carrier operating their flight rather than relying only on the name used to make the booking.

How minimum services protect 58 per cent of international flights

The Transport Ministry’s minimum-service resolution protects different proportions of Groundforce-served flights during August:

• 80 per cent of domestic flights between Barcelona and Spain’s islands, along with routes carrying a public-service obligation.
• 58 per cent of international flights and mainland routes where the public-transport alternative takes at least five hours.
• 35 per cent of shorter mainland routes with a public-transport alternative taking less than five hours.

Flights between Barcelona and the UK fall within the international category. However, the 58 per cent figure is not a prediction that the remaining 42 per cent will be cancelled. It is the minimum proportion of scheduled Groundforce-served operations that must be protected and continue operating.  Between August 4 and the end of September, the airlines concerned have approximately 11,600 flight movements and 2.4 million seats scheduled at Barcelona. Based on expected occupancy, the ministry estimates that around two million passengers could be affected by the dispute.

Why workloads and safety have driven the dispute for the Union

The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) said it called the strike because of what it described as a serious deterioration in occupational health and risk prevention. The union alleges that insufficient staffing and high employee turnover have produced unsustainable workloads, physical fatigue, stress and an increased risk of workplace accidents. It has also raised concerns about organisation and the amount of training given to new recruits. CGT said previous attempts to resolve the dispute through talks had not produced a satisfactory response.

Because the strike is indefinite, there is currently no final affected date. It could continue until an agreement is reached or the union suspends the action.

How will refunds and care work if a flight is disrupted?

Passengers due to use Barcelona Airport from August 4 should monitor the operating airline’s app, emails and flight-status page. During the period of possible disruptions, travellers are advised that medication, travel documents, keys and valuables are best kept in cabin baggage. Anyone whose checked suitcase fails to arrive should complete a Property Irregularity Report before leaving baggage reclaim.

Spain’s Aviation Safety Agency, AESA, confirms that a cancelled flight normally gives passengers a choice between a refund, rerouting at the earliest opportunity or alternative transport on a later suitable date. Rights to meals, refreshments and accommodation where necessary can also apply during a substantial delay.

Cash compensation is separate and will depend on the circumstances. AESA has previously said a ground-handling strike may qualify as an extraordinary circumstance if the airline proves it took all reasonable measures to avoid the disruption.

Unless an agreement is announced first, midnight between Monday August 3 and Tuesday August 4 will see the scheduled strike begin, without a fixed end date in sight.

The alleged shopping list ran from muscle-building steroids and growth hormones to erectile dysfunction products and experimental fat burners. Police say personal trainers and a doctor helped turn fitness advice into a route towards black-market medicines.

Fitness advice allegedly turned into a route to restricted drugs

Spain’s National Police said the investigation began after officers learnt of alleged malpractice involving a doctor in Málaga. According to police, the doctor prescribed medicines to people who did not have a medical condition that justified them. Investigators allege that fitness trainers first advised clients on nutrition and exercise, then put them in touch with the doctor to obtain prescriptions. Police said money changed hands as part of the arrangement.

When a medicine could not be prescribed through normal legal channels, the doctor then allegedly directed people to members of the network who supplied substances on the black market. Two other suspects are accused of using the doctor’s digital certificates, with his consent, to issue electronic prescriptions. The alleged catalogue was remarkably broad. Police listed anabolic substances, steroids, growth hormones, erectile dysfunction products and experimental fat-burning drugs which were prohibited for human consumption.

A hidden room and not just ‘a few’ loose pills

Officers carried out 11 searches and seven further inspections of businesses and storage units, where they seized more than 1,000 kilos of material, which police calculated as 200,000 doses of illegal medicines. The haul also included €37,000 in cash, electronic devices, a high-end vehicle and machinery allegedly used to make and disguise the products. Printing equipment for fraudulent packaging, capsule-filling machines, mixers and laboratory tubes were among the items recovered.

The find leads to considerably more than just a few loose pills at the bottom of a gym bag. Police said the equipment formed part of a clandestine laboratory, although the Interior Ministry’s detailed release did not identify its exact location. In Barcelona, officers also found a room concealed inside a warehouse, furnished with a treatment couch and medical instruments. Investigators allege that substances were administered intravenously there outside the legal healthcare system.

Twenty-seven arrests stretch across nine Spanish cities

The operation led to 27 arrests in total. Ten in Bilbao, five in Barcelona, four in Cádiz, two each in Málaga and Castellón, and one each in Sevilla, Madrid, Toledo and Zaragoza.

The suspects were arrested on suspicion of a myriad of offences including membership of a criminal organisation, trafficking medicines as a public-health offence, money laundering and unlawful professional practice. The allegations have not yet been tested in court.

Police did not identify the suspects or any product brands. They also did not specify how many of the 200,000 doses were erectile dysfunction products, steroids, hormones or fat-burning drugs, or whether any customers had suffered harm.

The legal pharmacy route is the important dividing line

The Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices warns that medicines obtained through illegal channels lack the guaranteed quality, safety, effectiveness and accurate information required for these types of prescriptions. With clandestine products, their ingredients, manufacturing standards and storage conditions may all be unknown.

In Spain, prescription medicines cannot legally be sold online. Only non-prescription medicines may be bought online and only through authorised pharmacy websites registered with the health authorities and displaying the common European Union logo.