Conagra Brands, Kraft Heinz and other packaged food companies have filed a lawsuit against multiple chicken processors, alleging that the processors conspired to inflate the price of chicken. According to The Chicago Tribune, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms and more than a dozen other companies are listed as defendants.
The suit alleges that the chicken suppliers coordinated to destroy their breeder hens in order to reduce the supply of chickens bred for meat and drive up prices. They also are alleged to have manipulated a wholesale price index. Buyers were then forced to overpay for chicken as wholesale prices increased.
Tyson Foods has denied the allegation, stating that, “Follow-on complaints like these are common in antitrust litigation.” Tyson is one of multiple poultry processors that have been sued for manipulating prices in recent years.
Source: The Chicago Tribune
