Inside the "very, very guarded" agreements that dictate what's sold in grocery stores -- and the cost [View all]

Inside the “very, very guarded” agreements that dictate what’s sold in grocery stores — and the cost
With food prices up 25% over the last four years, it may be worth asking – what determines the cost of food?

By Cara Michelle Smith
Published September 23, 2024 1:17PM (EDT)


(Salon) With food prices up 25% over the last four years, it may be worth asking – what determines the cost of food?

It’s a complicated question, involving supply costs, crop yields, public policy, the availability of raw materials, supply chain issues and animal and plant disease, to name a few factors.

But in our grocery stores, supermarkets and food manufacturers often determine the final label price consumers pay. Many consumers are unaware of the clandestine cooperative marketing agreements between supermarkets and food conglomerates that influence how food is stocked, how aisles are arranged, what products are highly promoted and, ultimately, what foods consumers get to choose from, and how much we pay.

“Manufacturers are able to really control and dictate the retail environment, to the detriment of consumers and consumers’ health,” Sara John, deputy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Salon.

Those systems are particularly harmful to small food brands; a best-case success scenario for those brands often ends in acquisition. And those structures stand to potentially blossom under a proposed $24.6 billion megamerger between Kroger and Albertsons, America’s two largest supermarket brands, that the Federal Trade Commission is suing to block over concerns the deal would create a monopoly. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/23/inside-the-very-very-guarded-agreements-dictating-whats-sold-in-grocery-stores/