Suits claim poultry price-fixing
Buyers’ filings say practices by top producers go back to 2008
America’s top chicken producers were accused of inflating prices for over a decade, according to lawsuits filed by a U.S. refrigeratedmeal supplier, a supermarket chain and a conveniencestore operator.
Bob Evans Farms Inc., Fresh Market and Wawa Inc. said producers including top three Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Sanderson Farms Inc. curtailed supplies to boost their profits, according to separate lawsuits filed Friday in federal court in Chicago. Buyers are now seeking damages for chicken purchased from as early as 2008 to at least late 2017.
The lawsuits are the latest against chicken companies and other meat producers over how their product is priced and workers are treated in the slaughterhouses that turn animals into food. The U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year indicted the top boss at Pilgrim’s Pride for pricefixing.
The suits, which also target Koch Foods Inc., Perdue Farms Inc. and Wayne Farms LLC, alleged producers inflated costs through methods including cutting production to manipulating price indexes. Like an investigation of the beef industry, the complaints also cite the highly concentrated nature of the chicken industry, with a few large players controlling supply.
Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and Sanderson Farms did not immediately reply to requests for comment, nor did the trade group National Chicken Council.
Several meat-processing plants were forced to shut down this spring as the coronavirus spread among workers, with many claiming a lack of protective equipment and social distancing made for unsafe working conditions. Tyson was seeking to have one such case heard in federal court.
An estimated 41,935 workers at U.S. meat plants had confirmed cases of the virus and 200 workers have died, according to Food and Environment Reporting Network data Friday.
Investigations against America’s meat producers also intensified at the same time, with the Department of Justice announcing its indictment, which included executives from smaller producer Claxton Poultry Farms Inc. Tyson, America’s largest producer, said it was cooperating in the pricing inquiry after it uncovered information pertaining to potential wrongdoing and reported it to the department.
An estimated 41,935 workers at U.S. meat plants had confirmed cases of the virus and 200 workers have died, according to Food and Environment Reporting Network data Friday.