Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times(emphasis ours),

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and 12 other senators introduced legislation on March 5 that would force the nation’s largest meatpackers to break up their operations across beef, pork, and poultry,in the latest push in the Democratic affordability agenda heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act would make it illegal for a major meatpacking company to control more than one type of meat, impose concentration caps on beef markets, and give the Federal Trade Commission authority to order divestitures of plants and facilities.

The bill would also bar foreign-controlled meatpacking companies, including Brazil-based JBS, from operating in the United States.

Schumer framed the legislation as a direct response to rising grocery costs, citing federal data showing a 16 percent increase in beef prices over the past year.

“The pernicious stranglehold of the meatpacking monopoly has weakened our supply chains and price gouged consumers at the grocery store,” Schumer said in a statement.

“Democrats are going to do what [President] Donald Trump refuses to do: put the affordability crisis front and center, every day, all year long.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Senate Agriculture Committee to ask whether there is Republican support for the legislation but did not receive a response by publication time.

Currently, four companies control roughly 85 percent of the U.S. beef market, 67 percent of the pork market, and more than 60 percent of the chicken processing market, according to data cited in the legislation and by the White House in its own criticism of the industry. Four decades ago, the top four beef packers controlled about 36 percent of the market, according to the bill’s text.

The concentration of the meatpacking industry has drawn scrutiny from both parties. In November 2025, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate the Big Four meatpackers for potential collusion and price fixing, saying that “action must be taken immediately to protect consumers, combat illegal monopolies.”

Source: ZeroHedge News