Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into the titans of the American beef industry. According to reports from Axios and the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ’s antitrust division is examining Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef over allegations of collusion and price-fixing. The probe centers on how these companies buy cattle from ranchers using contract benchmarks that many independent producers complain are manipulated to suppress prices. While the public pays record-high prices at the grocery store, the meatpacking giants are allegedly squeezing the ranchers who provide the raw material.

"Trump said in November that he would order the Justice Department to investigate the meatpacking industry," the Axios report noted, highlighting a long-standing populist grievance against the "Big Four." The beef industry has attempted to blame rising costs on a global shortage of cattle caused by severe droughts, but the DOJ is looking for evidence of a more artificial cause. For the American family watching the price of a pound of ground beef climb every month, the investigation offers a rare glimpse into the mechanics of the corporate cartel that controls the national dinner table.

The investigation comes at a time when the industry is already under fire for its labor practices. JBS workers in Colorado have recently struck against wage theft and unsafe line speeds, only to see the industry pivot toward automated robotic butchery. Whether the DOJ can actually break the grip of these four companies remains to be seen, but the opening of a criminal probe suggests that even the administration recognizes the political danger of a meat industry that is starving both the rancher and the consumer.