Huffington Post Article - Ninety Years On, Will the Feds Finally Break Up the Meat Monopoly?

By Regina Weiss
August 30, 2010

"In 1919 the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported to President Woodrow Wilson on a months-long investigation that produced seven volumes of evidence related to anti-competitive practices in the meat packing industry, at that time dominated by the 'Big Five' companies Armour, Swift, Morris, Wilson and Cudahy Packing. That investigation revealed 'an intricate fabric of monopolies, controls, trusts, combinations, conspiracies or restraints [of trade]' underpinning the 'huge profits' of the Big Five and, two years later, resulted in Congress passing the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA). While the Act gave the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) the authority to regulate the meatpacking industry in order to 'protect farmers, ranchers, and consumers,' the major change from 1919 until now has been an increase in consolidation, with the 'Big Five' mega-meatpacking companies currently reduced to just four - JBS (a Brazilian company that in 2007 purchased Swift, then the third largest US meat packer), Tyson, Cargill and National Beef - that today control more than 80 percent of the beef and pork produced in the United States and beyond...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/regina-weiss/ninety-years-on---will-th_b_698921.html