Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 1/16/18



Less than two months after a federal judge declined to dismiss a class-action lawsuit accusing 14 of the nation’s top poultry producers of price-fixing since 2008, another lawsuit was filed against several of the same poultry companies making similar allegations.  

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S District Court in Chicago last Friday by Winn-Dixie Stores and its sister grocery, Bi-Lo Holdings, against various divisions of: Koch Foods, JCG Foods, Koch Meat Co., Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, Sanderson Farms, Wayne Farms, Mountaire Farms, Peco Foods, Foster Farms, House of Raeford, Simmons Foods, Fieldale Farms, George’s and O.K. Foods.   

“Add-on lawsuits like this one are common in antitrust matters but don’t change the fact that these claims are unfounded because we’ve not done anything wrong. We will defend our company in court,” Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman told Meatingplace.

A spokesman for Perdue Farms told Meatingplace the company does not comment on pending litigation. Koch Foods could not be reached for comment.

In August, the Securities and Exchange Commission notified Tyson Foods that it did not intend to recommend an enforcement action as a result of the agency’s investigation related to an antitrust lawsuit filed against the company.

In November, however, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin rejected a motion filed by the defendants to dismiss the claims made by Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., more than a year ago, accusing 14 poultry processors of working together to artificially inflate broiler supplies even as feed prices were falling. The suit accused the companies of slaughtering 10 million breeder chickens in an effort to hamper the ability to meet sudden consumer demand. The judge ruled that the allegations of a conspiracy could be described as “plausible.”

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