Democratic politicians in the United States have drafted legislation to force the breakup of dominant meat-packing companies.
Democrats lack enough votes on their own to pass the bills in the House of Representatives and Senate or to over-ride a president’s veto.
They cite Cargill, JBS, Tyson and National Beef collectively owning 85 per cent of the U.S. beef market resulting in higher retail prices.
The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act imposes structural reforms to restore competition to the industry proposals
1. Makes it unlawful for a major meatpacking conglomerate to control more than one major type of meat (e., pork, chicken, beef)
2. Imposes hard caps on the concentration of beef markets at both the regional and national levels and authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order divestiture from the market if those caps are exceeded;
3. Prohibits foreign leverage over the domestic meat market, empowering FTC to protect competition and national security;
4. Directs the FTC to enforce against discriminatory pricing practices in retail and wholesale meat markets that hit independent and neighborhood grocers the hardest;
5. Authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide financial assistance, loan guarantees, and technical assistance to farmers’ cooperatives and small business concerns to acquire meatpacking facilities divested under the Act; and
6. Creates enforceable penalties for corporations that fail to properly divest, enforceable under the FTC Act.
