The North American Meat Institute said the Biden administration is attempting to "scapegoat" the meat and poultry industry by blaming it for inflationary prices.

"The Administration cannot ignore the fundamental principles of supply and demand," NAMI CEO Julie Anna Potts said in a Sept. 14 statement. "Americans are experiencing firsthand what the Secretary refuses to acknowledge, the effects of COVID and lack of labor are hurting consumers, and nothing proposed by the Secretary of Agriculture on the structure of the meat and poultry industry will help families struggling to pay for groceries."

In a seven-page letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, also dated Sept. 14, Potts said she was responding to Vilsack's Sept. 8 comments at a White House press briefing.

"I was surprised to hear you allege the structure of the meat and poultry industry is causing price inflation for meat and poultry products, and disappointed that you failed to acknowledge the array of market forces affecting retail prices," Potts said in the letter.

"Prior to the press briefing, no White House or USDA staff contacted the regulated industry to raise concerns or discuss the issue," she continued. "For an issue the White House deemed sufficiently significant to warrant discussion during an entire press briefing, somebody within the Biden administration should have engaged with the industry."

The overall consumer price index rose 5.3% over the past year through August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for beef increased 12.2% during that period.

NAMI members include more than 350 meat packing and processing companies and account for more than 95 percent of the United States' output of meat and poultry products, according to the trade group.

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