WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced on Nov. 6 that four state attorneys general joined its lawsuit against Agri Stats Inc., alleging the company organized and managed anticompetitive information exchanges among broiler chicken, pork and turkey processors.
An amended complaint was filed at the US District Court for the District of Minnesota by attorneys general of Minnesota, California, North Carolina and Tennessee. The DOJ first brought the lawsuit in September.
“We are pleased that our state law enforcement partners in Minnesota, California, North Carolina and Tennessee are joining our efforts to address these serious allegations,” said Jonathan Kanter, US assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We look forward to working closely with state attorneys general to litigate this important case, which affects food prices for consumers across the country.”
The complaint alleges that Agri Stats assembled comprehensive weekly and monthly reports for participating meat processors that use data points to set prices and output levels. Later, the DOJ alleged, Agri Stats understood that meat processors used the reports to raise prices and reduce supply.
“Because of Agri Stats’ anticompetitive business practices, Californians have been paying more for chicken, pork, and turkey meat than they otherwise would have,” said Rob Bonta, attorney general for the state of California. “Agriculture markets are a lifeblood of the California economy and the cost of putting dinner on the table matters to every family in this state. In a fair and competitive economy, meat processors should be vigorously competing with one another — not effectively colluding behind closed doors. I look forward to continuing to work with the US Department of Justice and our sister states to ensure that Agri Stats is held accountable.”
During September, Agri Stats released a statement denying the allegations announced by the DOJ.
“Agri Stats plans to vigorously defend the DOJ lawsuit just like the company defended the In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation class action lawsuit,” the company said. “The antitrust laws seek to foster competition that benefits consumers in the form of improved efficiency and lower prices — precisely the benefits that Agri Stats’ benchmarking services provide.”
According to the DOJ, Agri Stats is charged with violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act by collecting and distributing competitively sensitive price information, costs like worker compensation and output among meat and poultry processors.
The processors engaged in the alleged infractions with Agri Stats accounted for over 90% of US broiler chicken sales, 80% of US pork sales and 90% of US turkey sales.
