Study: Government's Ethanol Support Inflates Food Prices

A new study commissioned by the National Council of Chain Restaurants found that the use of corn as a fuel source potentially could cost U.S. foodservice chains as much as $3.2 billion annually, reports Nation's Restaurant News. The report, which was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, contends that the federal government’s policy of fostering the use of corn — the chief ingredient in U.S. livestock feed — as a source for ethanol in gasoline is artificially inflating corn prices and thereby driving other food chain commodity costs upward.