Tyson Foods agrees to settle pork price-fixing case for US$50M

USA – Tyson Foods and two other meatpacking firms have reached a US$64 million (approx.) settlement to resolve allegations that they coordinated efforts to inflate pork prices for food service providers.

According to court documents, lawyers representing the buyers asked U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minnesota to give preliminary approval to the agreements as part of an ongoing class action.

The largest portion of the settlement comes from Tyson Foods, which has agreed to pay US$50 million to exit the case.

Clemens Food Group and Triumph Foods also joined the settlement, agreeing to pay US$10 million and US$4 million respectively.

All three companies maintain they did not engage in any unlawful conduct but cited the financial and legal burdens of continued litigation as reasons for settling.

While representatives for Tyson and Clemens did not issue immediate responses to media inquiries, Triumph released a statement on Wednesday saying it had actually expanded pork production during the alleged time period and believes it would have prevailed at trial.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2018 and accuses multiple pork producers of working together to fix prices, in violation of antitrust laws.

The case includes a range of plaintiffs, such as Maplevale Farms, Ferraro Foods, and Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, who bought pork products directly from the companies between 2014 and 2018.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys described the settlements as “significant and substantial relief” in court documents, and plan to request legal fees totaling up to US$26 million (33%) from the US$78 million settlement fund, which includes prior agreements.

The case continues against Agri Stats, an Indiana-based data analytics firm that allegedly shared confidential market information among pork producers to support the price coordination.

Agri Stats has denied all wrongdoing and is also facing a separate antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The pork price-fixing allegations form part of a larger wave of legal action aimed at exposing and addressing coordinated price-setting practices across the meat industry, including in beef, chicken, and turkey markets.

These lawsuits have collectively resulted in settlements worth several hundred million dollars so far.

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