American consumers can look forward to more competition in restaurant food prices as Sysco Corp, the nation’s largest food distributor to restaurants, lost its battle with the U.S. government over its proposed merger with the second largest food distributor in the nation, US Foods.
A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the company could not merge with its biggest competitor without approval from antitrust regulators.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the body tasked with that assessment and had previously found the merger would harm consumers and likely lead to significant price increases at major U.S. restaurant chains, which rely on the large food distributors for supplies.
“The FTC has shown that there is a reasonable probability that the proposed merger will substantially impair competition in the national customer and local broadline markets and that the equities weigh in favor of injunctive relief,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his opinion.
It was unclear if Sysco would appeal the decision.
The move is the latest in a series of decisive actions taken by the agency to fight massive corporations praying on American citizens. The agency has enacted tough network neutrality rules of internet service providers to ensure they don’t simply tax the internet, pushed for meaningful patent reform, stepped in to regulate failed crowdfunding projects and has stepped up enforcement of promoted social media posts that are really advertisements.
Stay Connected
