Don't worry, you're not going crazy, the prices at the store really are going up as a new report has found that the cost of food is at a 40-year high.
The report from CBS News has found that the foods to see the most significant hikes in cost are meats, which have seen staggering increases compared to last year.
The report found that meat profits are soaring as price hikes continue to punish U.S. families. Beef prices are up 31%, chicken is up 20%, and pork is up 13%.
A quarterly report from Tyson, the largest meat processor in the U.S., reported $3 billion in profit in 2021 and $1 billion last quarter alone. Comparing the first quarter of 2021 to 2022, profits for the meat giant are up 48%.
Experts are pointing to several reasons for the spike in cases, including inflation, pandemic disruptions, and high demand. But, not all are convinced with companies seeing such large profits.
Tyson's CEO, Donnie King, spoke about rising prices last month during an earnings call.
"We're not asking customers or the consumer ultimately to pay for our inefficiencies," King said. "We're asking them to pay for inflation."
Around 85% of the nation's beef, pork, and chicken markets are controlled by four companies in the U.S., Tyson, Marfrig, Seaboard, and JBS, CBS reported.
Experts have pointed to this, saying that with no competition, companies can, and are, pricing their products however they want. In December, White House press secretary Jen Psaki referred to it as "corporate greed," and the president even touched on it during his State of the Union address.
"Capitalism without competition is exploitation. It drives up profits," Biden said.
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Even still, companies are blaming everything else to show that they are not profiteering off American households.
Tyson said in a statement to CBS that the reason prices are right now is because of "constrained supplies due to the labor shortage, higher input costs for such things as grain, labor and fuel, and stronger consumer demand."
Despite all of this, meat isn't the only thing on the rise as the Consumer Price Index rose 7.9% in February from where it was a year ago, according to the U.S. Labor Department, marking the largest increase since January 1982.
A report from Forbes in early January pointed to the omicron variant as a reason for rising prices, but case counts have fallen nationwide from the peaks at the beginning of the year.
Now the finger for most pricing increases, including gas, is being pointed at the conflict in Ukraine, as sanctions placed against Russia for its actions continue to punish Americans.
In his speech announcing he was banning Russian oil and gas imports, Biden acknowledged that Americans are suffering right now but at the pump and the grocery store.
Biden also pledged to stop any company from abusing the situation, saying that now is not the time for "profiteering or price gauging."
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