Tyson Foods to pay US$85M to settle pork price-fixing case
The payout marks the largest consumer settlement in a seven-year antitrust case over inflated pork prices.
USA – Tyson Foods Inc has agreed to pay US$85 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit accusing the company and its competitors of conspiring to raise pork prices in the United States.
The preliminary settlement, disclosed on Wednesday, represents the biggest payout so far in over seven years of litigation brought by consumers who claimed that pork producers colluded to restrict supply and manipulate prices in the roughly US$20 billion U.S. pork market.
The deal surpasses Smithfield Foods’ US$75 million settlement reached in 2022 in the same antitrust case.
With Tyson’s payment, the total amount recovered for consumers rises to approximately US$208 million, which includes previous settlements with JBS, Hormel Foods, and several other companies.
Tyson, headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, is the last publicly listed pork producer to reach a settlement in the case.
The agreement still needs approval from U.S. District Judge John Tunheim of Minneapolis before the funds can be distributed to consumers.
Neither Tyson Foods nor the consumers’ attorneys responded immediately to requests for comment on the latest development.
Triumph Foods and data analytics firm Agri Stats remain as the remaining defendants in the ongoing litigation.
Broader legal ripple across the meat industry
The class-action suit, filed under the name In re Pork Antitrust Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges that Tyson and other companies engaged in a coordinated effort between 2009 and 2018 to inflate prices by limiting the supply of pork products.
Consumers argue that the companies’ actions drove up retail pork prices nationwide, benefiting producers while hurting households and food businesses.
In addition to consumer claims, major retailers such as Kroger, restaurant chains including McDonald’s, and a range of food producers and distributors have also launched separate lawsuits alleging similar price-fixing tactics.
The pork case is part of a larger pattern of legal scrutiny surrounding the U.S. meat industry, where similar antitrust cases involving beef, chicken, and turkey producers are still pending in federal courts in Minnesota and Chicago.
If approved, Tyson’s payment would close its chapter in the protracted dispute but leave the broader issue of price manipulation in the U.S. meat sector far from resolved.
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