Tyson Foods agrees to pay $85M in pork price-fixing settlement

Tyson Foods has agreed to pay $85 million to settle a lawsuit after the company was accused of inflating pork prices by limiting supply.

Details of the preliminary class action settlement were released publicly on Oct. 1 in a 35-page filing in Minnesota federal court, more than seven years after antitrust litigation by consumers against pork producers began.

The litigation accused some of the largest pork producers in the country and data firm Agri Stats Inc. of conspiring to reduce supply and inflate pork prices from 2009 to 2018.

Hormel Foods was dismissed by the court, but claims against Tyson, JBS USA, Seaboard Foods, Smithfield Foods, Clemens Food Group and Triumph Foods proceeded.

Tyson’s settlement surpassed Smithfield Foods’ $75 million settlement in 2022 as the largest in the antitrust litigation, according to Reuters.