Senators Ask FTC to Probe Meat-Industry Consolidation

(Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. senators are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate consolidation in American meatpacking and processing for any anticompetitive behavior resulting from concentration.

Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Josh Hawley of Missouri said that four companies process 85% of all beef in the U.S. and three companies control 63% of pork processing.

That has “undermined the stability of America’s meat supply and become an issue of national security,” according to a copy of the letter sent to the FTC on Wednesday and seen by Bloomberg.

This month, Covid-19 outbreaks sickened thousands of American food workers, and at least 20 have died. Major meat plants have shut down, resulting in surging prices. Experts have said protein shortfalls could hit U.S. retailers in a matter of weeks.

“As a result, farmers cannot process their livestock -- which are costly to maintain -- and consumers risk seeing shortages at grocery stores, exacerbating the food insecurity that all too many Americans are currently experiencing,” the senators said. “These harms might have been mitigated if the meatpacking industry was less concentrated.”

The senators asked the FTC to analyze the practices and conduct of Cargill Inc., JBS SA, Smithfield Foods Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc.

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