Soaring supermarket prices are eating away at wage gains and have stressed out working-poor families who allocate a high percentage of their incomes to basic and essential items. The Biden administration finally acknowledged inflation as a real concern but didn't blame the trillions of dollars in fiscal and monetary policies and labor shortages on increased food inflation but instead placed responsibility on meatpackers. 

White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese took the podium on Wednesday and told reporters that "half of the overall increase is in grocery prices can be attributed to a significant increase in prices in three products: beef, pork, and poultry." 

"It raises a concern about pandemic profiteering, about companies that are driving price increases in a way that hurts consumers who are going to the grocery store," Deese said, adding that this "isn't benefiting the actual producers, the farmers and the ranchers that are growing the product."

"The real drivers in these three areas, these three proteins," he said, "if you look at the thing that is striking across beef and poultry and pork, significant consolidation in those industries."