By Ryan Hanrahan
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a press conference Monday confirmed that the Justice Department is engaged in an antitrust investigation into beef processors and the broader meatpacking sector. He also said the DOJ is nearing a settlement in its case against data company Agri Stats, with an announcement expected later this week.
Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that “in September 2023, the DOJ filed a civil lawsuit against a data company for the meat industry, Agri Stats. That lawsuit alleged meat companies used information from Agri Stats reports to increase prices and reduce meat supplies,” Neeley reported. “The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleged the companies used the reports to push up exports to reduce U.S. domestic supplies and drive up costs for U.S. food companies, retailers and consumers. A bench trial currently is set to begin on May 18, 2026, according to court documents.”
“U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the settlement expected to be announced later this week would ‘directly affect’ the prices of chicken, pork and turkey,” Neeley reported.
‘Basically, what the companies in this concentrated industry were doing was individually sending in data on everything — consumers, production, everything in between,’ Blanche said about the Agri Stats case,” according to Neeley’s reporting. “‘And what did that computer do? It spit back what the monopoly price should be. Justice department said, ‘No more, no mas.'”
Source : illinois.edu