And that role, according to a new study, included using R&D from the cigarette business to make ultra-processed foods, such as the enduringly popular Lunchables brand of kid-friendly prepackaged meals and snacks. Such foods, the study reveals, were engineered “for consumer pleasure and appeal” with help from cigarette-related research on flavor engineering, packaging developments, and more.

The study was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health. It’s one article in an entire issue focused on ultra-processed foods, their connection to chronic diseases and addiction, and how tobacco companies essentially created “the modern ultra-processed foods industry.”