US Justice Department probes meatpackers, attorney general says
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an X post the probe was under way and being run by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater. Slater leads the Justice Department's antitrust division, which investigates price-fixing and other practices that stifle competition.
No targets of the probe were identified. Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Company slaughter about 85% of U.S. grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, beef roasts and other cuts of meat in supermarkets.
In a post on Truth Social, the president said he directed the Justice Department to launch "an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation".
The move comes as Americans are focused on pocketbook worries, like food prices that have outpaced inflation. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in late October found that 40% of respondents said cost-of-living was the most important election issue.
The Department of Justice is also probing whether egg producers conspired to inflate the price of eggs.
Beef prices set records in 2025 after a years-long drought burned up pasture lands and hiked costs of cattle feed, forcing ranchers to slash the nation's herd to the smallest level in nearly 75 years. Consumer demand has remained generally strong despite high prices.
A pound of ground chuck beef cost retail consumers about $6.33 in September, up 13.5% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Ranchers have long complained about consolidation in the packing industry. Cargill declined to comment. Spokespeople for the other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"We need transparency, accountability, and a fair market that rewards those who actually raise and produce our beef — not the corporate middlemen gaming the system", Rollins said in a post on X.
The Meat Institute, a trade group representing meatpackers, said the beef industry was heavily regulated and that market transactions were transparent.
"Despite high consumer prices for beef, beef packers have been losing money because the price of cattle is at record highs", said Julie Anna Potts, the institute's CEO.
The administration of former President Joe Biden also blamed meatpacking companies for rising food prices.
JBS USA is owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS, while Brazil's Marfrig Global Foods SA (MBRF3.SA), opens new tab holds a controlling stake in National Beef Packing Company.
"This entire industry is highly concentrated and well beyond the level that's normally considered a harm to the economy", said Bill Bullard, CEO of cattle producers' group R-CALF USA.
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