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DOJ confirms antitrust probe of major meatpackers over beef price inflation
by Eric Mack, FoxNews.com, May 4, 2026
The Justice Department confirmed its active investigation of potential antitrust violations in U.S. cattle and beef markets, reviewing more than 3 million documents and interviewing industry participants as federal officials scrutinize whether highly concentrated meatpacking power has contributed to high beef prices.
The four largest beef processors control more than 85% of the U.S. processing market — half of which are Brazilian-owned — Trump administration officials noted at a Monday news conference, where acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urged whistleblowers to capitalize on turning in bad actors who are contributing to jacking up meat prices on Americans.
"If the information you provide helps us secure a criminal penalty in excess of $1 million, you can be entitled to recover and receive 15-30% of the money that we recover," Blanche said, describing the DOJ fraud whistleblower rewards program. He urged ranchers, purchasers, processors and others to report possible price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation or procurement fraud.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins tied the probe to broader concerns about food security and shrinking domestic cattle supplies, saying the U.S. had about 86.2 million head of cattle and calves as of Jan. 1 — "the lowest since the 1950s."
DOJ REPORTEDLY PURSUING CRIMINAL ANTITRUST PROBE OF MAJOR MEATPACKING COMPANIES
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the antitrust investigation into ongoing Biden-era beef price inflation, making a call for whistleblowers to turn in bad actors in the market.(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
DOJ reportedly pursuing criminal antitrust probe of major meatpacking companies
Addressing the supply side of the economic issue, Rollins said the country has lost more than 17% of its cattle ranchers over the past decade, including more than 100,000 ranches, attributing the reduction to leftist anti-cattle, anti-meat activists' "alarmism to wage a war on cattle in America" and "the radical left's ongoing assault against ranching as a way of life."
"Growing the herd size is an immediate problem in need of solutions, and we've already begun implementing across the government and into the states how we're going to solve for that," Rollins said.
Rollins also singled out foreign ownership among major processors, saying two of the "big four" — JBS and National Beef — are Brazilian-owned or have significant Brazilian ownership.
