Kamala Harris proposes a ban on price gouging in the food sector.

If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected president in November of this year, she will be the first of its kind to propose a ban on price gouging in the food and grocery industry.

In a statement, Harris’ campaign said her proposal would “contain clear rules that make clear that large corporations cannot unfairly exploit consumers to make excessive corporate profits on food and grocery stores.” Harris also plans to more closely scrutinize mergers and acquisitions between large food producers and grocers, “particularly in light of the risk that the proposed merger would increase food prices for consumers.”

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This step is part of a broader economic policy that also includes provisions for fair housing prices.

FMI – Association of the Food Industry released a statement by its President Leslie G. Sarasin following the policy proposal, in which Sarasin stressed that the price increases in consumer goods were due to inflation and not price gouging. She also stated that discussions on food prices “should be based on reality and data, not rhetoric.”

“It is both inaccurate and irresponsible to confuse an illegal activity such as price gouging – a defined legal term that covers specific violations of trade law – with inflation, which is a broad, macroeconomic measure of the increase in consumer prices over time due to cost pressures in the supply chain,” Sarasin said. “In the context of food, inflation affects how far the dollar stretches when purchasing food.”

Sarasin continued: “Americans should be able to count on the food industry to have zero tolerance for deceptive practices such as price gouging. This illegal practice has no place in our stores and is contrary to the way the food industry does business – feeding American families.”