You’re right!!! It’s the one stop shop, That’s why they charge so much for meat... I swear it’s 2-300% more than our local small chain.
1) SNAP makes food more expensive like everything else the govt subsidizes for some but not all. Those of us without the govt subsidy have to pay more than we would have had to if the govt wasn't "helping".
2) I read earlier that federal regulations are meant to make it harder for startup meat processors to get in the game. Things like must have the resources to fully staff an FDA auditor on site, which the mega processors can do, but the startups can't. Get rid of that and we'll probably see meat prices go down. Kind of like when gas prices are up we fuss about drilling for oil and/or importing oil -- when all along the choke point might be not enough refinery capacity.
The meat prices are why Clark Griswold was told Cousin Eddie ate squirrels until he found out they are high in cholesterol.