Tyson to Pay $10.5 Million in Price-Fixing Case

Oct. 26, 2022

The settlement is part of a civil suit in Washington state.

Tyson Foods has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle a price-fixing lawsuit brought by the attorney general of Washington state.

The office of attorney general Bob Ferguson brought a civil suit in October 2021 against Tyson and 18 other chicken processors, charging them with conspiring to drive up the price of broiler chickens. Fieldale Farms and Mar-Jac Poultry have already settled, for $475,000 and $725,000, respectively. The case against the remaining 16 continues.

Tyson has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution as part of the settlement. It also will “conduct internal training and certify that it has corporate policies that ensure the company follows state and federal antitrust laws,” according to a statement from Ferguson’s office.

The remaining defendants include some of the biggest names in poultry, like Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, Koch Foods and Sanderson Farms.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.