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The Biden administration said on Wednesday it planned to take “bold steps” to enforce antitrust laws targeting meat packers it says are pushing up the prices of beef, pork and poultry at the grocery store.
Even as beef prices rose, farmers and ranchers made less money, the White House said.
Climate change, labor issues, transportation issues, and other supply chain disruptions have all contributed to rising costs in recent years. The pandemic disruptions then accelerated the rate of price growth.
These price increases have important consequences for the most vulnerable Americans. The US Department of Agriculture reported on Wednesday that 13.8 million households were considered food insecure in 2020.
Last month, the Biden administration increased support for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Previously known as Food Stamps, the benefits have been increased by over 25%.
“It’s a combination of all of these factors,” said Phil Lempert, editor of SuperMarketGuru.com. “It’s very hard to say what the pandemic has done? What is climate change doing? What is transportation doing? So we have to put it all together. And we have to solve them all together.”
Watch the video above to find out just how much food prices have gone up, why costs are increasing, and what we can do about it.
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