FTC head wants investigation into grocery stores over inflated prices

The head of the Federal Trade Commission wants to investigate whether grocery stores could do more to lower prices for Americans, as many shoppers continue to be shocked over their food bills.

This month, FTC Lina Khan announced she would seek the investigation, during the first meeting of the Biden administration’s multi-agency Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing.

Khan said that while the pandemic temporarily jacked up labor costs and caused supply chain disruptions, those constraints have eased, but “many items are still too costly, and many large grocery chains are still raking in enormous profits.”

“We want to make sure that major businesses are not exploiting their power to inflate prices for American families at the grocery store,” she said.

Grocery store inflation has slowed considerably since the peak of the pandemic, according to a consumer inflation report in July, showing prices rose just a little over 1 percent in the previous 12 months. That’s down from a 5 percent jump during the previous year, and a double-digit hike the 12 months before that.

Still, many are still feeling the pain at the checkout line, as some report “shrinkflation,” paying the same prices for smaller portions of goods.

“You can’t afford it,” Tennessee resident Susan Ackert told local news station WKRN this week. “You either pay your bills or you eat.”

That’s led politicians to turn up the heat on grocery companies.

Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris has campaigned on promises to stop “price gouging,” while Republican nominee Donald Trump has vowed to end the Joe Biden “inflation nightmare.”

Senators Bob Casey and Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, sent a letter to Kroger this week inquiring about the store’s plan to