Mar-Jac Poultry has agreed to pay Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office $725,000 to resolve claims that the company conspired with other poultry producers to rig bids and drive up the price of chicken to consumers.
The settlement was announced by Ferguson’s office on May 19.
As part of the resolution, Mar-Jac Poultry agreed to cooperate with the attorney general’s office to produce information and documentation relevant to the case against the other companies also accused in the lawsuit. Mar-Jac Poultry also entered into a legally binding agreement to conduct internal training and certify that it has corporate policies that ensure the company follows state and federal antitrust laws. Under the terms of the consent decree, if Mar-Jac Poultry engages in price fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the next five years, the attorney general’s office can go to court to seek civil penalties, Ferguson stated in a press release.
Mar-Jac is one of 20 companies named in the suit. The other companies are:
- Tyson Foods, Inc.
- Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.
- Sanderson Farms, Inc.
- Perdue Farms, Inc.
- Koch Foods Inc.
- Foster Farms, LLC
- Mountaire Farms Inc.
- Wayne Farms, LLC
- Amick Farms, LLC
- George’s, Inc.
- Peco Foods, Inc.
- House of Raeford Farms, Inc.
- Fieldale Farms Corp.
- Case Foods, Inc.
- Norman W. Fries, Inc. d/b/a Claxton Poultry Farms, Inc.
- Simmons Foods, Inc.
- O.K. Foods, Inc.
- Harrison Poultry, Inc.
- Agri Stats, Inc.
The $725,000 recovery will be directed into the state Antitrust Revolving Account.
Ferguson initially filed the lawsuit in October 2021, which mirrors other lawsuits in which similar allegations were made. Ferguson at the time said consumers in the state of Washington and institutional purchasers were not included in the settlements reached in other cases and were ineligible to receive funds from them.
Mar-Jac Poultry has operations in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. During the past year, the chicken company processed 15.88 million pounds of ready-to-cook poultry on a weekly basis.
