Inflation in the US has cooled from pandemic peaks, but there’s a grocery product telling a different story: beef. The price of uncooked ground beef soared by the most since June 2020 in government data released Friday. The broad beef and veal category is up 15% over the past year as of January.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Enda Curran  takes a peek into the American consumer’s grocery basket with host David Gura to understand the perfect storm of factors that’s setting beef apart. And a fifth-generation Oklahoma rancher reflects on the impact that a fragile market has had on her family business.

Read more:
America’s Vanishing Cattle Herd Drives 15% Price Hikes for Beef
US Cattle Herd Stays at 75-Year Low, Keeping Beef Prices High
A Deadly Parasite’s Return Threatens US Ranchers Too Young to Remember It

Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky and David Fox; Reported by Enda Curran, Ilena Peng; Edited by Aaron Edwards;

Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate and David Fox; Engineering by Alex Sugiura;

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

Inflation in the US has cooled from pandemic peaks, but there&rsquo;s a grocery product telling a different story: beef. The price of uncooked ground beef soared by the most since June 2020 in government data released Friday. The broad beef and veal category is up 15% over the past year as of January.
On today&rsquo;s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Enda Curran &nbsp;takes a peek into the American consumer&rsquo;s grocery basket with host David Gura to understand the perfect storm of factors that&rsquo;s setting beef apart. And a fifth-generation Oklahoma rancher reflects on the impact that a fragile market has had on her family business.
Read more:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-14/beef-prices-are-rising-more-than-inflation-this-year-with-no-relief-seen">America&rsquo;s Vanishing Cattle Herd Drives 15% Price Hikes for Beef</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-30/us-cattle-herd-stays-at-75-year-low-keeping-beef-prices-high?srnd=undefined">US Cattle Herd Stays at 75-Year Low, Keeping Beef Prices High</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-02/deadly-screwworm-parasite-s-comeback-threatens-texas-cattle-us-beef-supply">A Deadly Parasite&rsquo;s Return Threatens US Ranchers Too Young to Remember It</a></li>
</ul>
Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky and David Fox; Reported by Enda Curran, Ilena Peng; Edited by Aaron Edwards;
Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate and David Fox; Engineering by Alex Sugiura;
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.

The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.

Big Take

Where’s the Beef? Inside the Fragile Cattle Market

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/5660985a-9026-438c-883b-b3f40165798f/transcript