Families hoping to tuck into prime rib roasts, juicy sirloins and filet mignon may have no choice but to swap out their holiday favorites with cheaper alternatives thanks to the latest victim of relentless inflation - America's meat.
Startlingly high prices are appearing in meat aisles across the country in what shoppers have begrudgingly come to know as 'meatflation.'
The reason for the spike in prices is a combination of supply chain crunches sparked by COVID backlogs, staffing shortages in meat plants and the fact that the few remaining workers are not physically able to get through as much as they were before due to social distancing requirements in meatpacking plants.
Industry leaders say Biden's vaccine mandate is also threatening their already dwindling staff count, and that another enormous problem is the fact that ocean cargo carriers are opting to ferry non-perishable goods like toys and technology over to the US from Asia, instead of taking export jobs of US meat to the rest of the world which risk being spoiled if they take too long to get there.
The cost of bone-in ribeye beef has nearly doubled from $8.71 per pound in November 2020 to an astounding $16.99 per pound this week, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Retail Price Report that was released on Friday - an increase of over 95 percent.
The report took a weighted average of 80 stores across America for the week of November 5 until November 11.
Startlingly high prices are appearing in meat aisles across the country in what shoppers have begrudgingly come to know as 'meatflation'. Prices shown reflect an average of retail prices advertised in the week starting November 5. The data was released by the US Department of Agriculture. Every type of beef rose in price, with bone-in ribeye seeing the highest spike of 95% from the same week last year
This is the rising price per pound of bacon and all beef roasts according to the US Department of Labor Statistics, for the month of September for the past 10 years. Prices have soared exponentially since 2020 thanks mostly due to a lack in labor and shipping bottlenecks
All categories of uncooked steak have also risen exponentially along with cheaper cuts like beef chuck
It found filet mignon has risen from $8.42 per pound to $10.28, while tenderloin has gone up by $4 per pound and T-bone steaks have also increased by $1 per pound.
Chicken is cheaper now than it was last year, but still more expensive than 2019, although only marginally
Another report by IRI which surveyed meat prices throughout October saw rises that were less sharp.
Beef loin rose by 28 percent to $11.20 per pound, ribeye was up 41 percent to $14.48 per pound and brisket was up 36 percent to $4.80 per pound.
As prices soar, consumers are going for cheaper cuts; ribeye sales were 36% down in October 2021 from October 2020 while the price was up by 40%, according to IRI.
Beef offal, which decreased in price by 4% to $3.59 per pound, was more popular - sales were up 17.7%.
The Biden administration has tried to shift the blame onto the meatpacking companies, claiming their greed is the reason for the spike in prices, and not the general inflation that is sweeping the country, sending the price of all goods soaring and ravaging industries across the board.
The meat companies however say they've had no choice but to hike up prices because of supply chain issues, staffing shortages and meat plant closures sparked by COVID and Biden's response to it.
As well as shoppers, frustrated ranchers and farmers are finding themselves out of pocket after selling livestock for a loss, then seeing sky-high prices in stores.
Experts say the prices are likely to remain high until staffing problems are addressed - and that may not be until 2022.
'More price increases are coming. The trade-down effect is underway in meat as households scramble to find some ways to manage budgets.
'Consumers are replacing higher priced favorites with more budget-friendly cuts. It’s not that retailers or producers are greedy.
'Producers are faced with rising labor costs, feed costs and transport costs…every part of their budget is getting hit and the consumer is feeling it.
'Looking into 2022, labor constraints will likely keep prices elevated unless producers can find enough workers to fill demand,' Chris DuBois, senior vice president, protein practice for IRI, told DailyMail.com.
It's not just the top-shelf cuts that are more expensive; prices have risen across the board with bacon ($7.99 per lb), beef chuck ($4.79 per lb) and all uncooked steaks ($9.91 per lb) reaching their highest price in a decade.
The only item that seems to be cheaper than last year is chicken, which is 38 cents cheaper per pound
