Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on the website of Food & Water Action (our affiliated organization) at an earlier date.

A trip to the grocery store may feel like an exercise in choices and diversity, but all those choices and brands hide a bleak truth — a small number of massive corporations control what we can buy, how it’s made, and the prices we pay for it. If a proposed deal between Mars and Kellanova goes through, that number may get even smaller. 

In August, the candy kingpin behind M&M’s announced intentions to buy Kellanova, an offshoot of cereal giant Kellogg’s. The deal would bring brands like Pringles, Starburst, Pop-Tarts, KIND bars, Eggo, Morningstar, and many more under the same mega-corporation. 

At a time of rampant price gouging and soaring grocery prices, this acquisition could prove especially disastrous for consumers nationwide. As we’ve seen repeatedly, consolidation means higher prices for consumers and more profits and power for food corporations.

Food Corporations Profit from Higher Prices

The Mars-Kellanova deal comes in the midst of major price hikes in snacks and sweets. As Forbes reports, retail prices for candy, cookies, crackers, and salty snacks have skyrocketed 40% since 2019, compared to 30% in the wider food industry.

At the same time, prices for groceries overall have risen far above those throughout the rest of the economy. From 2020 to 2024, the cost to feed a family of four on a budget-conscious plan has shot up 2.5 times the rate of inflation.

Companies are blaming high prices on the supply chain shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs, but we know that’s far from the whole story. While prices rose, corporate profits soared five times faster than the rate of inflation from 2020 to 2022.

Corporations across our food system have taken advantage of crises to raise prices and keep them there. The strategy is working well for executives and shareholders. 

For example, from June 2022 to June 2023, Kellogg raised its prices by nearly 15% (this was before it split and created Kellanova). During that time, the company reported better-than-expected profit and increased buybacks and dividends to enrich shareholders.

If the Mars-Kellanova deal goes through, the new megacorporation will have more market power than ever to raise prices and pocket profits.

Mergers Give Corporations the Power to Raise Prices and More

So how exactly do big mergers lead to higher prices? 

Over the years, successive mergers and lax enforcement of our country’s antitrust laws have led to consolidation; in other words, fewer and bigger corporations in a market. When there are only a few players, it’s easier for those companies to coordinate price hikes on similar products at the same time. Consumers have no other option but to pay the higher prices.

In the grocery store, many product categories are already highly consolidated, including snacks and candy. In 2022, just four corporations made two-thirds of all snack bar sales, among them Kellogg’s and Mars. If Mars buys out Kellanova, this one company could control 50% of all snack bar sales in the country. 

Along with raising prices, consolidation reduces the number of choices we have because it keeps small and independent businesses out of the market. These small businesses can’t compete with the juggernauts, which can spend big on things like slotting fees just to get onto shelves. 

Additionally, consolidation means corporations have more control over what products they make and how they make them. We’ve seen this in, for instance, the meat industry. There, just a handful of corporations have overtaken the market. Factory farms — with all their attendant harms — are increasingly the dominant model for raising and processing animal products. Small and medium-sized operations and independent meat processors have plummeted in number.

Moreover, as food giants gobble up smaller companies, “voting with our dollar” becomes increasingly impossible. For example, Mars now owns KIND bars and Kellanova owns RXBAR and Morningstar. Buying products claiming to be “organic,” “healthy,” or “sustainable” often sends money to the same corporations harming our environment in other corners of their portfolio. 

The Government Must Stop the Mars-Kellanova Merger and Future Ones Like It

Right now, a shrinking number of ever-larger corporations control a growing share of the food we buy. This is putting decisions about our health and finances in the hands of corporate kingpins. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the policy tools to fight consolidation, and we can pass even more to better defend against corporate power.

The United States has long had antitrust laws on the books to stop mergers and other anti-competitive practices. However, in recent decades, antitrust enforcement has fallen by the wayside, and our regulators have allowed corporations to take over our food system. The impact on consumers — as well as workers and farmers — has been disastrous. 

The Biden-Harris administration has started changing course. It released an executive order to crack down on corporate consolidation, especially in the meat industry. Under the administration, the Federal Trade Commission introduced new merger guidelines, which outline when the agency should intervene in merger deals. That has paved the way for the agency’s recent suit against another merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons.

Now, the administration must also block the Mars-Kellanova deal and future ones like it. We can’t allow yet another corporation to seize even more power in our food system.