Tyson Foods and Cargill have agreed to pay a combined $87.5 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit accusing them of inflating U.S. beef prices by restricting supply.
The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota before Judge John Tunheim, marks the largest payout to date in the seven-year price-fixing litigation, surpassing Smithfield Foods’ $75 million agreement reached in late 2022. The proposed settlements are the first consumer agreements in the beef price-fixing case that began in 2019 and still require judicial approval, according to Reuters.
Under the deal, Tyson will contribute $55 million and Cargill $32.5 million. The consumer class, estimated at 36 million people across 26 states and Washington, D.C., includes those who indirectly purchased beef products such as chuck, loin, and ribs from major retailers, including Walmart and Costco, between 2014 and 2019.
As part of the settlement, Tyson and Cargill have agreed to cooperate with consumers as they pursue remaining claims against JBS USA and National Beef Packing, both of which deny wrongdoing. Plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate total consumer damages at $1.9 billion and plan to seek up to one-third of the settlement in legal fees.
Separate $85 million settlement in pork price-fixing case
In a separate antitrust case involving pork products, Tyson Foods has agreed to pay $85 million to resolve claims that it and several other meatpackers conspired to inflate pork prices by restricting supply and sharing sensitive data through Agri Stats.
The multidistrict pork price-fixing litigation, also before Judge Tunheim, was first filed in 2018 and includes millions of indirect pork purchasers as part of the consumer class. Remaining defendants in that case include Agri Stats and Triumph Foods, while previous settlements include JBS ($20 million), Smithfield ($75 million), Seaboard ($10 million), and Hormel ($4.5 million).
Tyson denied any wrongdoing in the pork case, saying the settlement is meant to avoid prolonged litigation. The agreement still requires final court approval.
Earlier this year, JBS agreed to an $83.5 million settlement resolving related claims from ranchers and producers who alleged that JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef conspired to suppress cattle prices by limiting supply. That case, brought in 2019 by the National Farmers Union, R-CALF USA, and several ranchers, covers direct sellers of fed cattle between June 2015 and February 2020.
JBS did not admit wrongdoing but said the agreement was intended to avoid further litigation. Claims continue against Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef in that lawsuit as well.
Combined, recent settlements across beef and pork price-fixing cases now exceed $250 million, with litigation still ongoing. All companies named in these cases continue to deny collusion, but the series of multimillion-dollar settlements underscores mounting antitrust scrutiny of the U.S. meat industry.
