Overview
- The executive order directs the Attorney General and the FTC chairman to establish separate Food Supply Chain Security Task Forces to investigate anti-competitive conduct and the effects of foreign-controlled firms across food-related industries.
- Both task forces are empowered to bring enforcement actions and propose new regulatory approaches, with the Justice Department instructed to initiate criminal proceedings, including grand jury investigations, if it finds evidence of collusion.
- The task forces must jointly brief congressional leaders within 180 days and again within 365 days, providing progress updates that exclude details of ongoing investigations or other non-public information and may include recommended legislative actions.
- The order cites vulnerabilities in sectors such as meat processing, seed, fertilizer, and farm equipment, and notes that some companies have recently paid tens of millions of dollars to settle civil price-fixing claims.
- Implementation must comply with existing law and available funding, the order creates no private rights, and no specific enforcement actions were announced with the directive.