A federal judge in Oregon on Tuesday agreed to temporarily halt a large grocery store merger between giants Albertsons and Kroger, until a judge with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can review the case.

The FTC filed a lawsuit to halt the merger in February, which is the largest proposed grocery store merger in U.S. history. The FTC claimed the move would be "anticompetitive" and end competition between the two major food chains, which could further increase grocery prices.

U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson agreed to temporarily halt the merger until the FTC judge can review the proposal, which was made in 2022. Kroger's was hoping to purchase Albertsons for $24.6 billion.

“Any harms defendants experience as a result of the injunction do not overcome the strong public interest in the enforcement of antitrust law, especially given the difficulty in disentangling a premature merger,” Nelson wrote in her opinion, the Associated Press reported.

The decision comes after Nelson held a three-week hearing in the case in Portland.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.