Latest Stories — Food & Power

As Food Prices Keep Rising, Study Finds Market Power Drove Pandemic Inflation

A new economic study makes the case that concentrated market power helped corporations pull off pandemic price hikes and reap record profits.

How Ecolab Cleans Up the Competition in Keeping U.S. Restaurants Sanitary

Ecolab sells an estimated 60% or more of all dishwashing and sanitizing chemicals that restaurants rely on, putting small restaurants in a bind.

Meatpacker Lobbying Kept Plants Open and Increased Covid Deaths, Congressional Report Reveals

A congressional report reveals how meatpacking corporations exaggerated risks of food shortages and drafted an executive order to keep their plants open, deterring health and safety regulations.

Labor, Processing & Distribution, PolicyAmy HuoJune 8, 2022JBS, tyson, collusion, Trump, Meatpacking workers, meatpacker

Treasury Report on Alcohol Markets Calls for More Enforcement, Yet Criticizes Key State Regulations

In the name of supporting craft producers, a new Treasury Department report questions the very state laws that permitted the craft boom, some argue.

Policy, Processing & Distribution, EnforcementClaire KellowayFebruary 17, 2022craft beer, Beer, Alcohol, three-tier

Talking Turkey: An Anti-Monopoly Thanksgiving

Troubles in the turkey industry predate the pandemic.

Poultry & Livestock, Processing & DistributionClaire KellowayNovember 24, 2021poultry, Turkey, price fixing

Tech Giants Burn Cash on Grocery Delivery, But at What Expense?

No one seems to know how to offer quick, profitable grocery delivery without gouging grocers, exploiting workers, or abandoning brick-and-mortar stores altogether.

Railroad Merger Raises Larger Concerns About Competition on the Tracks

America has a railroad monopoly problem, but merging the smallest Class I carriers won’t solve it.

Consumers, Small Meatpackers, and Labor Lose Their Voice to Corporate Packers on USDA Food Safety Advisory Committee, Violating Charter

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced 10 new appointments to an independent committee advising food safety and inspection policy.

Labor, Processing & DistributionClaire KellowayAugust 27, 2020chicken, dairy, pork, slaughter, resiliency

JBS Aims to Shutter Critical Western US Lamb Processor, DOJ Issues a “Standstill” Order

In a few weeks, many Western sheep ranchers might not have a place to slaughter their lambs. Global meatpacking giant JBS last month won the bankruptcy auction for the Mountain State Rosen (MSR) lamb processing plant in Greeley, Colorado.

Food Worker Organizations File USDA Civil Rights Complaint Against Meatpackers for Exposing Workers of Color to COVID-19

Last week, a group of organizations representing meatpacking workers filed a civil rights complaint with the USDA against dominant meatpackers. The Title VI Civil Rights Act complaint alleges that Tyson Foods’ and JBS’s response to COVID-19 had a disproportionately harmful, disparate impact on their employees of color.

Report Exposes System of Big Food Kickbacks to Cafeteria Contractors, Cutting out Local Producers

A report released last week by Real Food Generation exposes new details about a secretive system of kickbacks between Big Food corporations and cafeteria operators.

Meatpacking More Dangerous Today Than a Generation Ago, Amplifying COVID-19 Crisis

Meatpacking plants have become national hot spots for the novel coronavirus.

Labor, Processing & DistributionClaire KellowayMay 7, 2020slaughter, labor, resiliency