Will U.S. consumers hit their breaking point on meat prices this year?

For the last five years, consumer price indices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs has outpaced the aggregate food CPI, non-food CPI and total CPI. During that same period, consumer sentiment has dropped and has remained lower than levels experienced during the late 2010s.

According to a new Meat Demand Monitor study, “Demand Differences by Financial Sentiment in Quarter 1 2025,” these movements have been more extreme in recent months, with the meat CPI and consumer sentiment experiencing sharp increases and decreases, respectively, since the start  of 2025.

Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University agricultural economics professor and co-author of the report, says he doesn’t believe the majority of consumers are indifferent to higher meat prices, but that both elevated production costs and demand are at play in CPI numbers.