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.
