Beef and pork price-fixing lawsuits: what they allege and where each case stands

Price-fixing is an agreement among competitors to raise, lower or hold steady the price of what they sell, instead of setting prices on their own. It can also take quieter forms, such as agreeing to cut production or to split up customers, since less supply tends to mean higher prices.

According to the FTC's guide to price fixing, agreements among competitors to fix prices are illegal under US antitrust law. Antitrust laws are the rules meant to protect competition; the FTC's guide to the antitrust laws explains the main federal statutes, including the Sherman Act, a federal law that bars agreements that unreasonably restrain trade.

The lawsuits on this page focus on meat. The beef antitrust lawsuit against processors, which names companies including Tyson Foods and Cargill Meat, says beef processors conspired to limit supply and divide up the market, raising beef prices for consumers. The pork price-fixing lawsuit against processors, whose settlement listed here is with Tyson, Clemens, Seaboard, Hormel and Triumph, says pork processors worked together to limit supply and raise the price of pork.

Some cases of this kind end without paying anyone. The list above shows where each one stands.