WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is expanding its antitrust investigation into beef affordability to include eight of the country's largest grocery retailers, seeking detailed records on pricing, costs and profit margins as consumers continue facing sharply elevated beef prices at supermarkets nationwide.

The department's Antitrust Division announced the expanded probe Tuesday in a post on X, confirming that letters had been sent to Kroger, Walmart, Publix, Albertsons, Aldi, Ahold Delhaize USA, Costco and Amazon.

"Beef prices are a critical concern to Americans, and a priority for this Justice Department," the department wrote in its announcement.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. signed the letters, which were dated July 16, according to copies obtained by Newsweek. In the letters, Woodward described beef pricing as "a matter of critical concern to the American public, and a priority for the United States Department of Justice." The department requested detailed information covering the companies' retail sales and pricing, costs and profit margins for beef products, their internal analyses of market trends, and their wholesale arrangements with meatpacking companies, spanning the period from 2020 through 2026.

The expanded retail-level scrutiny builds on an earlier phase of the investigation. According to Fox Business, the DOJ launched an initial antitrust probe in May targeting the so-called "Big Four" meatpackers, JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods and National Beef, companies the department says collectively control more than 85% of the U.S. beef processing........

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