(AURN News) - Brace yourself for sticker shock at the supermarket - and not just from inflation. A blistering new report from the Federal Trade Commission accuses some grocery retailers of price gouging during the pandemic recovery. While supply chain disruptions and rising costs initially drove up food prices, the FTC alleges certain chains have kept prices elevated to boost profits well into 2023.

"The commission’s report finds that some in the grocery retail industry seem to have used rising costs as an opportunity to further raise prices to increase their profits, which remain elevated today," the agency stated bluntly.

The numbers don't lie. Food and beverage retailer revenues skyrocketed to over 6% above total costs in 2021 - outpacing even their 2015 peak of 5.6%. In 2023, profits soared even higher, with revenue reaching a whopping 7% over costs."Casting doubt on the assertions of some companies that rising prices at the grocery store are the result of retailers’ own rising costs," the FTC declared.

As we continue battling stubborn inflation at the checkout line, the report suggests some of those painfully high grocery bills may be more a matter of corporate greed than economic necessity.

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