At $10.49 per pound, average U.S. choice beef prices are at a record high, according to the latest monthly Consumer Price Index, released today. Meanwhile, profits for meat corporations Tyson and JBS, which collectively slaughter between 40-50% of all U.S. beef cattle, are similarly skyrocketing.

Food & Water Watch analysis of the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) and corporate income data finds that since President Trump took office in January 2025:

• Beef prices are up 23% for choice beef, 24.2% for ground beef, 24.7% for ground chuck, and 25.2% for chuck roast — nearly five times the CPI increase of 5.1% over the same period. 
• Tyson Foods reported $82.65 billion in revenue and $681 million in profit, with over 25% of those profits coming from the last quarter alone. So far this year, Tyson has brought in almost twice the profits ($450 million) than the full year prior ($231 million).
  • Tyson’s CEO compensation has risen every year since 2019. Last year, its CEO made $34.5 million in total compensation — over 2.5 times the CEO’s compensation just two years prior, and 798 times as much as Tyson’s median employee income of $43,206 that year.
• JBS Foods reported $131.7 billion in revenue and $2.4 billion in profit. Its Executive Director made $11.4 million in total compensation last year. 

Food & Water Watch Senior Researcher Kat Ruane released the following statement:

“As beef becomes increasingly unaffordable at the grocery store, the biggest meat corporations are profiting hand over fist. Multinational companies like JBS and Tyson use their market dominance to rip off American ranchers and consumers, and line cushy CEO pockets. We need a food system that feeds people — not corporate profits. To start, Congress must pass the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act to break up the meatpacking monopolies.”

The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act (S. 4007) would restore meat industry competition and lower consumer prices by, among other things, prohibiting processors from engaging in more than one type of protein market. In addition to processing a collective 40-50% of U.S. beef sold in the U.S., JBS and Tyson are also among four corporations that slaughter 70% of U.S. pork, and Tyson is the nation’s top poultry producer.