Global fast-food chain McDonald’s is suing the “Big Four” companies in the U.S. meat industry over an alleged beef price fixing scheme, according to a report from the Associated Press.
McDonald’s in the suit accused Tyson, JBS, Cargill, National Beef Packing Company, and the companies’ subsidiaries, of anticompetitive actions including collectively limiting supply to boost prices, the AP report says.
The four companies in effect created “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” according to the McDonald’s suit.
The McDonald’s suit claims these meat packers have been engaging in this behavior as early as January 2015 and continue to do so today. Their actions violate the federal antitrust law known as the Sherman Act, the suit claims.
The four beef companies did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.
The AP report details several instances of federal probes and price fixing accusations among these companies in the past. This includes a 2022 beef price-fixing lawsuit against JBS that ended in a $52.5 million settlement, and a 2021 lawsuit against Tyson over alleged purposely inflated chicken prices, where the company agreed to pay $221.5 million.
These settlements did not include admissions of wrongdoing, AP notes.
Meat processors in previous instances have claimed that price increases are due to factors outside their control like supply and demand, not due to behavior like the McDonald’s suit alleges, AP explains. But lawsuits like the McDonald’s case say the concentration of the beef market makes it easier to collude for price fixing and point to increased profit margins as evidence.
“Conspiracies are easier to organize and sustain when only a few firms control a large share of the market,” the suit says, noting that the four companies together control over 80% of the U.S. beef market.
McDonald’s is seeking a trial by jury in the suit, AP says. The fast-food chain did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.
