The amount of money U.S. consumers spend on food has increased by about 70% since 1997, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The cost of food has even outstripped the rate of inflation, and Americans now spend way more on food than they did in the mid-1990s.
The dollar amounts reflect spending at grocery stores and at restaurants and bars. Except for dips during the Great Recession and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of food has steadily increased over the past 25 years, according to the USDA.
As food prices climb, food companies — such as the large meat processing companies Tyson Foods and JBS — reap record profits. Producers, on the other hand, have been struggling with low prices for the meat they sell.
