Two of the largest poultry processors in the United States, Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson Foods, have offered a settlement of $75 million to customers to resolve damage claims related to price-fixing. The size of Tyson's settlement with the same buyers has not been disclosed.
Last year, Pilgrim’s Pride was fined $110 million by the U.S. Justice Department for collusion and cartel behavior with several other American chicken processors. The cases against Tyson and others are still ongoing.
According to a previous indictment, the cartel activity involved a turnover of $65 billion over several years. Pilgrim’s Pride is largely owned by the Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA and is the second largest poultry supplier in the U.S. after Tyson Foods. Among Pilgrim’s Pride’s largest customers are the wholesale retailer Costco and the fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Last year, charges were filed against Jayson Penn, the then president and CEO of the company, along with Roger Austin, former vice president of Pilgrim’s Pride. At the same time, top executive Mikell Fries and vice president Scott Brady of Clayton Poultry were also indicted.
Lawyers for food corporations say that not only Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson Foods, but also poultry processors Sanderson Farms and Perdue Farms participated in the illegal price inflation.