The U.S. Department of Justice has extended its scrutiny of elevated beef prices from meatpacking into retail, sending letters to eight major grocers—Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Albertsons, Aldi, Ahold Delhaize, Costco and Amazon—about recent increases in retail beef prices. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. authorized the outreach, and the department called beef prices a critical concern for Americans and a priority for the Justice Department. No charges or misconduct allegations have been filed against the retailers. The step follows a May-confirmed antitrust probe into whether concentration among the four largest processors—JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods and National Beef—which control 70 subsidiary companies and 85% of the market has driven soaring costs; investigators have reviewed more than three million documents and are seeking whistleblowers on possible price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation or procurement fraud. The average price of ground beef has risen from $3.95 per pound in December 2020 to $6.89 this July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the 12-month inflation rate for uncooked beef at 9.4% near historic highs amid cattle herds at 1950s-low levels. President Donald Trump has pushed lower-tariff beef imports, a $500 million package for smaller meatpackers, and rights for farmers and ranchers to process their own meat, drawing farm-country backlash and a warning from Rep. Troy Downing that import expansion could destabilize the market for U.S. ranchers.