Food distributor Sysco filed an antitrust complaint on Tuesday against Tyson Foods Inc., JBS SA, Hormel Foods Corp., and other leading pork processors in a Houston federal court, alleging it was compelled to pay artificially inflated prices for pork which resulted in business losses.
According to Bloomberg Law, the complaint says, exchanges of “detailed, competitively sensitive, and closely guarded nonpublic” data about “capacity, sales, volume, and demand,” including the “profits, prices, costs, and production levels” of specific companies, are a “classic” way to implement and enforce “a price-fixing scheme.”
The company is seeking a jury trial and damages to be tripled under U.S. antitrust laws.
The lawsuit bears similar accusations as an ongoing pork price-fixing lawsuit in federal court in Minnesota naming many of the same companies, Bloomberg Law reports. This case is advancing in a Minneapolis federal court after an October ruling in favor of the wholesalers, retailers and consumers leading the proposed class action.
In January, a federal judge in Minnesota granted preliminary approval to the $24.5 million settlement against JBS SA, proposed by pork wholesalers who brought a class action suit over an alleged industry-wide price fixing scheme. JBS denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
“The cases are part of a wave of cartel suits involving livestock and protein, including chicken, beef, turkey, tuna, salmon and eggs. Tuna and chicken executives are also facing actual or potential prison time in connection with the price-fixing allegations,” Bloomberg Law reports.
Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Judge Grants Preliminary Approval for $24.5 Million Settlement in JBS Antitrust Suit
JBS Pork Antitrust Lawsuit Plaintiffs Seek $24.5 Million Settlement
