Lawsuit alleges collusion among top turkey companies

A lawsuit has been filed, claiming the top turkey companies in the United States, as well as Agri Stats, conspired in an effort to inflate the price of turkey.

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(kolesnikov, Bigstock)
(kolesnikov, Bigstock)

A lawsuit has been filed, claiming the top turkey companies in the United States, as well as Agri Stats, conspired in an effort to inflate the price of turkey.

While similar lawsuits have been filed against the leading companies in the broiler, pork and beef industries, this is the first case to be filed against the turkey industry.

According to a report from The Fern, the suit was filed on behalf of turkey buyers Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative and John Gross and Company.

Plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit include Butterball, Hormel Foods (Jennie-O Turkey Store), Cargill, Farbest Foods, Foster Farms, Kraft Heinz, and Tyson Foods.

Tyson Foods and Foster Farms are both defendants in lawsuits claiming collusion among the broiler industry, while Tyson Foods and Hormel Foods are defendants in a suit with similar allegations against the pork industry.

Kraft Heinz, a defendant in the turkey industry lawsuit, is actually a plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges collusion among the country’s top broiler companies.

In the suit, filed December 18 in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, the alleged collusion took place between 2010 and 2017. It is alleged that the top turkey companies coordinated to raise prices at industry conventions, through public discussion of production cuts and by analyzing data from Agri Stats reports.

A court document related to the case lists Steve Berman of the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro as the attorney representing the plaintiffs. That same law firm was involved in the filing of similar lawsuits against the country’s top broiler companies and top pork companies. The firm also filed a lawsuit on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), alleging Whole Foods made false claims regarding that pork sold at its stores came from pigs that were humanely raised.

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