Food Monopolies and the US Consumer

85% of the canned tuna we eat is owned by just four companies. StarKist is owned by Dongwon, in South Korea. (Credit: Richard Levine/Corbis News/Getty Images)

By Thomas Neuburger

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” —Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Not long ago I wrote about monopolies. Monopolies, of course, are the goal of large-scale capitalism, price-fixing being a key element of capitalist owners, identified even as far back as Wealth of Nations.

In researching that subject I came across a terrific interactive page at The Guardian. The site is too full of data to reproduce here, but this is a taste and an encouragement to click through. Almost every corner of the American food market is dominated by just four companies.

Note: Companies, not brands. A company can own many brands, giving the illusion of choice to the choiceless consumer. Choosing not to give your money to Nestlé, for instance, one of the most predatory companies on earth, can be challenging.

To pick one example from the piece, here's how the animal products markets are divided up. In each case, the market share of only the top four companies is shown.

The page is interactive — you can hover and click as you like. I clicked for the Canned Tuna data. (Note, by the way, that none of the companies you see listed here are recognizable. These monopolies are international, and well disguised). Enjoy, or wince, as you wish.