US: Poultry producers hit antitrust suit

Maplevale Farms, one of the country’s leading food service providers, has brought a federal class action antitrust lawsuit against the country’s top poultry producers, alleging they conspired to hatch a plan to manipulate the supply of chicken to keep the price of the birds artificially high, harvesting bumper profits.

On Sept. 2, New York-based Maplevale filed its complaint in Chicago federal court, naming as defendants many of the largest American producers of chicken, including Park Ridge-based Koch Foods, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride, Maryland-based Perdue Farms and Mississippi-based Sanderson Farms, as well as others. In all, 14 primary defendants are named, as well as numerous affiliated companies.

The complaint centers on the supply of so-called “broilers,” the kind of chickens that supply the vast majority of all chicken sold and consumed in the US According to the complaint, the value of the broiler market in the US ranged from $21 billion to $31 billion from 2008-2013, and rose to $32.7 billion in 2014.

Full Content: Cook Country Record

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