Cargill has agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the meatpacking giant of conspiring with other companies to artificially raise the price of turkeys.
The deal was filed in the Northern Illinois U.S. District Court and still needs to be approved by the court.
The lawsuit accused Cargill and Tyson, plus other major producers like Butterball and Perdue Farms, of coordinating to intentionally reduce the U.S. turkey supply to raise consumer prices.
A class action lawsuit was filed in 2019 that claims for years, the nation’s largest turkey producers illegally increased prices in a scheme that cost consumers millions of dollars and forced grocery stores to pay higher prices for deli meat and other products.
Agricultural Dive says the meat producers allegedly used data company Agri Stats to exchange sensitive information about production and pricing.
The suit covers meatpacker activities from 2010-2017.
Source: NAFB News Service
