The Biden administration said Wednesday it plans to take “bold measures” to enforce antitrust laws targeting meat-packing companies, it says, that drive up prices for beef, pork and poultry in the store. of groceries.
Although beef prices have risen, farmers and ranchers have made less money, the White House said.
Climate change, labor problems, transportation problems and other supply chain disruptions have contributed to rising costs in recent years. Pandemic disruptions accelerated the pace of price growth.
These price increases have important consequences for the most vulnerable Americans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday that 13.8 million households were considered food insecure by 2020.
Last month, the Biden administration increased attendance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Formerly known as Food Stamps, profits increased by more than 25%.
“It’s a combination of all these factors,” SuperMarketGuru.com editor Phil Lempert said. “It’s very difficult to say what the pandemic did? What does climate change do? What is transportation? So we have to put it all together. And we have to solve them all together.”
Watch the video above to find out how much food prices have risen, why costs are rising, and what we can do about it.