Attorney General Tong Expands Connecticut Grocery Price Inquiry Amid Rising Costs

CONNECTICUT — Attorney General William Tong said Thursday that his office is expanding its investigation into the causes of Connecticut’s persistently high grocery prices, shifting its focus from retailers to major food distributors.

Tong first launched the inquiry in 2024 at the request of state legislators concerned about pandemic-era price spikes that never fully subsided. While his office found no evidence of illegal price gouging at the retail level, Tong said that grocers themselves appear to be contending with “the same unsustainable market forces hurting consumers.”

“No one needs a report to see that grocery prices are way too high and that Connecticut families are getting squeezed,” Tong said in a statement.

But to date, based on information provided and discussions with the grocers, the inquiry has identified no immediately apparent evidence of illegal pricing at the retail level, according to Tong.

The investigation is continuing "up the supply chain to understand more fully additional pricing pressures and to assess whether anyone in those roles may have unfairly profited."

The Attorney General’s Office recently sent letters to five major food distributors with operations in Connecticut, requesting meetings and data about their pricing practices. The letters also address “shrinkflation,” a practice in which manufacturers reduce product sizes while keeping prices unchanged.

Tong’s initial inquiry examined wholesale and retail pricing for nine staple food items—beef, chicken, bread, milk, eggs, bananas, apples, carrots, and almonds—sold in Connecticut between March 2019 and June 2024. Retailers reported that factors such as higher fuel, labor, and energy costs, supply disruptions from global conflicts, and disease outbreaks affecting livestock and crops have driven price increases.

The Office of the Attorney General’s findings align with a March 2024 Federal Trade Commission report that was inconclusive about the root causes of sustained grocery price inflation. Connecticut’s food retailers typically operate on slim profit margins of 1 percent to 3 percent, the report noted, leaving little room to absorb supplier cost increases.

While no active emergency currently triggers Connecticut’s price-gouging statute, Tong successfully pushed to expand the law earlier this year to cover wholesalers and distributors in addition to retailers. His office can pursue civil penalties, restitution, and injunctions in future cases should evidence of illegal profiteering emerge.