WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris described various economic proposals for her presidential campaign, including a federal ban on price gouging on Aug. 16.

In her prepared remarks, Harris talked about “soaring meat prices accounting for a large part of Americans’ higher grocery bills even as meat processing companies registered record-breaking profits following the pandemic.” 

Harris also mentioned that in the first 100 days she plans to bring down grocery costs by using the resources of the federal government to identify and take on price-fixing and other anti-competitive practices in the food and grocery industries.

Following the campaign proposal, the Meat Institute came out against this move by the Democratic nominee.

“Consumers have been impacted by high prices due to inflation on everything from services to rent to automobiles, not just at the grocery store,” said Julie Anna Potts, president and chief executive officer of the Meat Institute. “A federal ban on price gouging does not address the real causes of inflation.

“The Harris campaign rhetoric unfairly targets the meat and poultry industry and does not match the facts,” Potts continued to say. “Food prices continue to come down from the highs of the pandemic. Prices for meat are based on supply and demand. Avian influenza, a shortage of beef cattle and high input prices like energy and labor are all factors that determine prices at the meat case. Prices that livestock producers receive for their animals are also heavily influenced by supply and demand. Prices for cattle producers especially are at record highs, surpassing the 2014-2015 previous record highs.”

Potts pointed out that in 2024 cattle prices will remain at record levels due to the United States having the lowest cattle inventory since 1951.

“Major meat companies have reported losses during the Biden-Harris administration, with some closing facilities and laying off workers,” Potts added.

The National Chicken Council (NCC) also came out against Harris’ proposed policies before her speech. 

“Americans are seeing inflation in nearly every part of their livelihoods — rent, gas, automobiles, furniture — not just in the meat case,” said Gary Kushner, interim president of NCC. 

He added that chicken prices are largely affected by supply and demand; major input costs like corn, soybeans, energy, packaging and transportation; and by fiscal policy and burdensome government regulations — not by price gouging. 

“It’s time for this administration to stop using the meat and poultry industry as a scapegoat and a distraction for the root causes of inflation and the significant challenges facing our economy,” Kushner said.

Earlier in March, the Meat Institute, NCC and other industry groups pushed back on a plan by the USDA to move forward with finalizing the “Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act.”

The agency said the new rule provides more effective standards under the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) that are designed to ensure fair access to economic opportunities in light of widespread consolidation in the markets over the last 30 years.