U.S. accuses Agri Stats of illegally sharing meat company data
The analytics company Agri Stats has violated antitrust law for years by sharing information with chicken, pork, and turkey processors about their competitors’ costs, output, and prices, said the Justice Department in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. Processors used the reports to restrain production and raise prices to consumers, said the lawsuit.
Lawsuit charges poultry price-fixing, asks restitution
Nineteen poultry processors, including industry leader Tyson Foods, are accused of conspiring to fix chicken prices in a lawsuit filed by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The suit asks for restitution for Washington consumers that could potentially run into the millions of dollars.
Lawsuit alleges turkey companies conspired to keep prices high
A new class-action lawsuit brought by two food distributors alleges that the country's top turkey companies conspired for most of the past decade to raise turkey prices. The allegations mirror those brought in recent years against beef, pork, and chicken companies, and all revolve around the use of reports on industry production and pricing made by a secretive data company called Agri Stats.(No paywall)
More antitrust lawsuits hit the meat industry. This time, it’s pork.
A class-action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of pork consumers alleges that hog companies have colluded to artificially hike the price of pork — and their profits. The complaint also provides new insight into Agri Stats, a data-sharing company that sits at the center of the wave of antitrust allegations sweeping the meat sector.(No paywall)
Judge will give DOJ more time to build case in poultry price-fixing suit
The District Court judge overseeing a massive price-fixing lawsuit against chicken companies said on Wednesday that he would extend a stay of discovery in that case to make way for a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.
Poultry companies subpoenaed in DOJ investigation of chicken industry
Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, and Perdue Farms have all been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice in the agency’s grand jury investigation into the poultry sector. FERN broke news of the investigation in June. The Wall Street Journal reports that the three poultry companies will cooperate …
Judge allows DOJ to intervene in poultry price-fixing case
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in Chicago granted the Department of Justice’s request to stay discovery in a high-profile case that alleges collusion in the poultry industry. Durkin halted discovery in the case for three months, half the time DOJ had requested to protect its own grand jury investigation of the poultry sector.