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| Senators Ask for Probe of Dairy Pricing - Herb Kohl and Patrick Leary - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included J. Mark HuffmanCiting a gap between what farmers receive for their milk and what consumers pay at the supermarket, two Democratic senators, Wisconsin's Herb Kohl and Vermont's Patrick Leahy, are calling for a Justice Dept. continued below... |
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probe of the dairy processing and retail marketing industries.
The lawmakers fired off a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Robert Pitofsky last month requesting an investigation into what they call "possible market abuses."
"Since January 1999, the price dairy farmers earn for each gallon of beverage-quality milk has dropped about 44 cents, or 26%, but the average price consumers across the nation pay for milk in the grocery store has slipped by a mere 18 cents a gallon, or 6%," the letter charges. Kohl and Leahy also want a probe of recent consolidation in dairy processing and retailing for possible anti-trust violations.
Their request comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed against two Chicago-area supermarket chains, charging they conspired to artificially inflate milk prices more than $1 a gallon. In a letter to members of Congress, Connie Tipton, senior group . of the International Dairy Foods Assn., said many factors explain the price discrepancy, including industry investments in product and marketing that are working toward increasing consumption.