RELEASE: With Jersey Facing Rising Food Prices, Gottheimer Announces New Legislation to Lower Grocery Costs for Families

Above: Gottheimer discusses steps to lower food costs at Caffaso’s Fairway Market.

FORT LEE, NJ — Today, Thursday, January 27, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) visited Cafasso’s Fairway Market in Fort Lee to announce new concrete steps a part of his Affordability Agenda for Jersey to help get grocery prices down for Jersey families, particularly for meat, poultry, and eggs. 

Gottheimer is introducing legislation in Congress to help lower the cost of a family’s grocery bill, tackle rising food prices and the supply chain crisis, and take action against any meat or poultry companies that are colluding and making profits on the backs of hard-working middle class families.

Gottheimer is also calling on President Trump to immediately reverse his decision to halt all communication at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the recent Bird Flu outbreak that is driving costs up for families. In a letter to the President, Gottheimer demands federal agencies restore communication with grocers, farmers, and producers and calls for a coordinated government response to help contain and solve this outbreak. 

A recording of the announcement can be found here.

Rising Food and Grocery Prices

• Egg prices are up 37% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department.
  • The average cost was $2.51 a year ago, compared to $4.15 today. 
  • In the New York metro area, the average cost for a dozen eggs is $6.72.
• The four largest meat-packing processors control 85 percent of the market.
• In 2024, beef prices increased by more than 10% compared to the year before.
  • In just one month, from this past November to December, the price of bacon and breakfast sausage rose 2%. 
  • The Agriculture Department expects higher pork and beef prices in 2025 — as meatpackers cut back on their production.
• The Bird Flu outbreak has killed more than 136 million birds in the last nine months and 30 million in just the last three months
  • This is roughly 10 percent of the nation’s egg-laying population that has been lost in the last 90 days —  driving up the price of eggs and poultry. 

Gottheimer’s New Steps to Lower Food Costs

• Gottheimer is introducing new legislation — the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act — that will direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to appoint a special investigator to strictly enforce price-fixing laws for the meat packing industry and do everything they can to encourage new meat producers to enter the market.
  • Gottheimer’s bill would help create much-needed competition in the meat and poultry industry, strengthen the food supply chain, and lower food prices for Jersey families.
• Gottheimer is calling on President Trump to immediately reverse his decision to halt all communication at the CDC on the recent Bird Flu outbreak that is driving costs up for families.
  • In his letter, Gottheimer demands federal agencies restore communication with grocers, farmers, and producers and calls for a coordinated government response to help contain and solve this outbreak.
• Gottheimer is introducing the Lower Grocery Prices Act — a bill that will require the federal government to create a comprehensive national plan to combat high prices and deliver critical relief to families struggling with everyday costs.

“It has become increasingly expensive for our local markets, like this one, to serve our communities — raising the cost for our families to buy groceries or to eat out at the local diner. We must do more to make life more affordable and stop food and grocery costs from eating into the budgets of Jersey families,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “That’s why today, as part of my Affordability Agenda for Jersey, I am announcing new steps to help increase our food production, contain the Bird Flu outbreak, and get the price of groceries down for our families. We can’t let higher costs just pull up a seat at the kitchen table and steal from our families — we must again work together to deliver for Jersey.”

Gottheimer was joined by Senator Gordon Johnson, Assemblywoman Ellen Park, Mayor Mark Sokolich, Commissioner Tracy Zur, Commissioner Tom Sullivan, Commissioner Mary Amoroso, and Caffaso’s Fairway Market Co-owners Bob and David Caffasso.

Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery can be found below:

Before I begin, I just wanted to take a moment to recognize today as Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. That’s why, in addition to getting prices down, I’m so proud today to be leading bipartisan legislation, the HEAL Act, to teach future generations about the Holocaust and help ensure that “Never again” is not just a slogan, but a reality.

Now, I want to thank Cafasso’s Fairway Market for hosting us today in Fort Lee. Here in Jersey, we take care of each other, just as the Cafassos have for nearly a century.  

We’re here today as a part of my affordability plan to talk about steps we are taking to make life more affordable for Jersey families, and right now, for many in our state, the cost of food is at the top of that list.

Standing here in the egg aisle, you can see what I’m talking about. If you need a reason to believe prices are too high, here’s a dozen — egg prices are up 37% from a year ago. The average was $2.51 a year ago and today it’s $6.72 in the New York metro area — if stores can get eggs at all. In 2024, beef prices increased by more than 10% compared to the year before. In just one month, from this past November to December, the price of bacon and breakfast sausage rose 2%. It’s insane.

Families are now spending eleven percent of their income on food — that’s the highest in three decades.

It has become increasingly expensive for our local markets, like this one, to serve our communities — raising the cost for our families to buy groceries, or to eat out at the local diner — where people order plenty of eggs.

So, what’s going on? When it comes to meat prices, the four largest meat-packing processors control 85 percent of the market. In other words, there is very little competition, so the big four can, in effect, control production and, in turn, the prices. 

There are not enough meat distributors to drive competition and bring prices down. The Agriculture Department said just this month that it expects higher pork and beef prices in 2025 — as meatpackers cut back on their production. When large meat distributors scheme and jack up the costs on our local markets, they stick it to our local businesses and families.

This is not the ranchers — it’s the packers. I’m a capitalist, and one of the core views of any capitalist is competition. Monopolists that collude to corner a market aren’t capitalists. They’re crooks.

Second, when it comes to eggs, we are dealing with a massive outbreak of the Bird Flu, which has killed more than 136 million birds in the last nine months — 30 million in just the last three months. That’s roughly 10 percent of the nation’s egg-laying population gone in just the last 90 days. This disease slammed the brakes on production, creating supply shortages that will only continue to send the costs of eggs soaring even higher. Yet, even as this is happening, President Trump has ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, to stop all communication about the Bird Flu. 

Third, you add to all of these higher costs that have come with inflation, from energy to everything in the supply chain, and families are feeling it in their pocketbooks. 64 percent of Americans said inflation was a “very serious problem,” with grocery prices being their most overwhelming concern. We must do more to make life more affordable and stop food and grocery costs from eating into the budgets of Jersey families. That’s why today, as part of my Affordability Agenda for Jersey, I am announcing new steps to help increase our food production, lower food costs, and help get the price of groceries down for our families.

First, we need to stop any meat or poultry companies that have or are continuing to collude, jack up prices, and rip off hard-working middle class families here in Jersey and across our country. I’ll be introducing new legislation — the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act — that will direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to appoint a special investigator to strictly enforce price-fixing laws for the meat packing industry and do everything they can to encourage new meat producers to enter the market. This will help create much-needed competition in the meat and poultry industry, strengthen the food supply chain, get prices down, and help our families.

Second, I’ll be introducing the Lower Grocery Prices Act. This bill will require the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to create a comprehensive national plan to combat high prices and deliver critical relief to families struggling with everyday expenses.

Third, as we’ve been dealing with higher egg prices from the Bird Flu, I’ve not only been laser-focused on ensuring our food is affordable for families — but also safe for our children to eat. 

That’s why I’m writing to President Trump urging him to reverse his decision to pause all communication at the CDC on the recent Bird Flu contamination that’s driving costs up for families. If we want to contain the bird flu outbreak, protect our families, and lower food costs, our federal agencies will need to communicate with grocers and farmers and ensure they can work across the government to help contain and solve this outbreak. Cutting off communication does just the opposite. 

Finally, from restoring the SALT deduction to lowering the cost of childcare or clawing more of our tax dollars from Washington back to Jersey, I will always fight to make life more affordable for our families and small businesses. As I’ve done for years now, I will work with anyone to get this done. That’s how we got the bipartisan Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act passed in the House back in 2022 to tackle rising food and gas prices and address the supply chain crisis.

The bottom line is that we can’t let higher costs just pull up a seat at the kitchen table and steal from our families — we must again work together to deliver for Jersey. Democrats and Republicans must come together in a bipartisan fashion to get costs down and ensure our families and small businesses can thrive — by getting more money back into the pockets of Jersey families. This is a problem, if we work together, that we can help solve. I know that if we do that, here in the greatest country in the world, our best days will always be ahead of us. Thank you. God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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