Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) addressed a letter to the President calling for a joint task force to investigate pricing of food through the entire supply chain. Measures the legislators have called for include: -

• Establishing a joint task force within the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible manipulation of food prices.
• Urging the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to block mergers and acquisitions in the food industry that may result in an increase in food prices for consumers.
• Encouraging the Department of Justice to prosecute companies that engage in price fixing or anticompetitive activities.
• Enforcing federal legislation prohibiting price gouging including the Robinson Patman Act.
• Initiating prosecution of companies that engage in price manipulation.

Food inflation was evident during the COVID years but over the past two years there has been a steady decrease in the rate of inflation for food at home. The Bureau of Economic Analysis release on April 26^th of the Personal Consumption and Expenditure Price Index showed a 12-month increase in food of 1.5 percent. The May 15^th release of the April 2024 Consumer Price Index showed a 1.0 percent decrease in the category “Meat, Fish and Poultry” from March. On an annual basis all food was up 2.2 percent with food-away-from home up 4.1 percent. The April Price Index for Final Demand  (PPI) released on May 14^th showed a 0.7 percent decline in the food category from March

Contrary to the allegations raised by Senator Warren, quarterly reports of the major food retailers do not denote high profitability with reported low gross and profit margins.

Food inflation is regarded as a worldwide problem.  For three years, the Government of France has pressured manufacturers and retail chains on margins in their annual negotiations.  There are calls for restraints on grocery margins in the U.K.  Australia recently concluded a Commission of Inquiry into the negative consumer effects of the oligopolistic situation in grocery retail.  Canada has introduced a Grocery Code of Conduct to which all retailers with the exception of Walmart have subscribed.

Weekly and monthly reports in EGG-NEWS document egg production costs and wholesale prices over a number of years. Producers have experienced marked fluctuation reflected in quarterly bottom line results. Egg producers were selling below cost over approximately eight months in 2023 given prices for feed and labor and other inputs including energy and packaging.

If any aspect of egg production should be reviewed, it is suggested that the widely used benchmark price discovery system requires evaluation as it amplifies upward and downward movements in price, benefitting chains to the possible detriment of consumers.

The contentions by Sen. Warren and Rep. McGovern are unfounded based on recent economic data although some suggestions in the letter to the President have validity.