Addressing Security Risks From Price Fixing and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Food Supply Chain

The order directs the Attorney General and the FTC Chairman to each establish a Food Supply Chain Security Task Force within their respective agencies. Both task forces must investigate anti-competitive behavior — including price fixing — across food supply sectors such as meat processing, seed, fertilizer, and equipment, and must specifically assess whether foreign-controlled companies are driving up food prices or creating national security threats. If investigations uncover anti-competitive conduct, the agencies must act to remedy it, including through civil enforcement actions and proposed new regulations. If the DOJ task force finds evidence of criminal collusion, the Attorney General must commence criminal proceedings, including grand jury investigations as appropriate.

The two task forces must jointly brief congressional leaders and relevant committee chairs twice — once within 180 days and again within 365 days of signing — summarizing progress and recommending any congressional action. Briefings may not include information about ongoing investigations or non-public industry data. The order contains standard severability and no-private-right-of-action clauses, and implementation is subject to available appropriations.

Companies operating in the U.S. food supply chain — including meat processors, seed and fertilizer producers, and agricultural equipment makers — are the primary investigative targets. Foreign-controlled corporations in those sectors face heightened scrutiny. American consumers paying elevated food prices are the stated beneficiaries of the order's remedial goals.

Food companies found to have engaged in anti-competitive practices could face civil enforcement, new regulations, or criminal prosecution. For consumers, successful enforcement could reduce food prices; for foreign-controlled food companies, the investigations create significant legal and regulatory exposure regardless of outcome.

Each agency stands up its own task force and investigates within its existing legal jurisdiction — DOJ covering potential criminal antitrust violations and the FTC covering civil competition enforcement. The two task forces coordinate for joint congressional briefings at the 180- and 365-day marks. Criminal referrals follow the standard DOJ grand-jury process. Enforcement teeth come from existing antitrust statutes; the order adds no new substantive law but directs agencies to deploy existing authority and to propose new regulations where gaps exist. No sunset clause is specified.