Pilgrim’s Pride Ends Chicken Growers Lawsuit With $100 Million Settlement
In one of the largest antitrust settlements in the food industry, Pilgrim's Pride has agreed to pay $100 million to settle claims it conspired with rivals to underpay chicken farmers in the previous decade.
Although Pilgrim's Pride denied wrongdoing, the preliminary settlement was filed last week in a U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Okla. It still requires approval by a U.S. District Judge.
The plaintiffs were a class of 24,354 growers who accused Pilgrim’s and four other poultry processors of conspiring to keep payments to the growers low by sharing confidential information about compensation and by agreeing not to actively recruit each others' farmers, according to a Reuters report. The collusion lasted from Jan. 27, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2019.
Pilgrim's Pride is the last defendant to settle. Tyson Foods, Sanderson Farms, Koch Foods and Perdue Foods previously settled for $21 million, $17.75 million, $15.5 million and $14.75 million, respectively, according to Reuters.
Three years ago, Pilgrim’s Pride pleaded guilty to federal charges of price fixing and paid a fine of $107.9 million. Pilgrim’s was alleged to have colluded with Tyson and other competitors to hold back production of broiler chickens to spike the price, harming major customers that included Chick-fil-A and KFC.
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.