This year’s been a rough one for meat lovers. There’s the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite from Mexico that led to dozens of confirmed livestock infestations. There’s drought affecting 75% of all livestock in the country, leading to a 75-year low for cow herds. That, coupled with tariffs on Brazil, the largest exporter of beef, helped make the average price of a pound of ground beef hit $6.89 in July, up 10% from a year earlier.
The Department of Justice now wants to know whether eight of the country’s largest grocery retailers can be blamed for it.
