Sanderson Farms Not Guilty of Chicken Price-Fixing

Oct. 25, 2023

An Illinois jury did not find collusion with other poultry producers to raise broiler prices.

A jury today (Oct. 25) found Sanderson Farms not guilty of engaging in a price-fixing scheme to inflate the price of chicken broilers, ending a case pending since 2016.

The unanimous verdict from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois concluded that Sanderson didn’t conspire to raise prices with other poultry companies by exchanging competitively sensitive non-public information about broiler prices, sales volume and demand, including through third-party co-conspirator Agri Stats Inc. – all that according to Bloomberg Law.

The case, brought by a group of chicken buyers, claimed Sanderson – now part of Wayne-Sanderson Farms -- and the other defendants coordinated to reduce production and increase the price of broilers between 2012 and 2018. Several other poultry producers, including Tyson Foods and Keystone Foods, have either been dismissed from the case or settled claims.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.