The Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing, representing a joint initiative between the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice will launch an inquiry into grocery prices.

FTC Chair Lina Khan noted, “Too often people feel like too much of their paycheck is going towards covering the basics.”  She added, “It isn’t clear that Americans are getting competitive, affordable prices that they deserve.”

Khan presumably has considerable data on the grocery industry gathered in the course of preparing a lawsuit to oppose the proposed merger between the Kroger Companies and Albertsons Corp.

Irrespective of the findings of the Strike Force it is a matter of record that the two largest pure-play grocers, Kroger and Albertsons subjects of FTC scrutiny attained twelve-month trailing operating margins of 2.0 and 2.3 percent respectively and net margins of 1.4 percent. Even a high-end specialty grocer, Sprouts earned only 4.5 percent. It does not appear that there is price gouging from company financial reports.