At a White House meeting today, USDA and Department of Justice announced a joint initiative to coordinate their efforts and will launch a new portal for reporting concerns about potential violations of competition laws within 30 days.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urged Congress to boost the Department of Justice’s funding for antitrust enforcement. “Too many companies have pursued corporate conduct and more aggressive mergers that made all of us vulnerable,” Garland said during a White House meeting on meat and poultry supply chains.
President Joe Biden said the federal government would vigorously enforce existing competition laws at the meeting, and that a handful of firms dominate too many industries.
“The Biden administration continues to ignore the No. 1 challenge to meat and poultry production: labor shortages,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. “This tired approach is not surprising because they have refused to engage with the packing and processing sector they attack, going so far as to hold a roundtable on meatpacking without a single beef or pork packer present.”
