Book Description

Abstract: A report of a US congressional subcommittee focuses on the assessment of food industry cost data price factors for evaluating the issue of rapidly rising consumer food prices. The report includes a series of federal questionnaires that were developed for this assessment, which, due to the reluctance of the largest food industry firms to provide a variety of fiscal data (e.g., direct and indirect costs, income, taxes) are largely published without the requested data. The report also provides information concerning: a preliminary assessment of USDA's farm-to-retail price spreads for a variety of foods (beef, pork, bread, dairy products); an assessment of price margins in the beef industry; and the economic organization of the milling and bread industry. The legal and public justifications for conducting these studies are detailed. Extensive tabular data are presented on the fiscal and quantitative dimensions of the food industry, including acquisition and production activities, processing, wholesaling, and retailing.