DOJ investigating beef processors over antitrust violations
Officials said the four largest processors control more than 85% of U.S. beef processing as investigators review over 3 million documents.
- On Monday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a new antitrust investigation into major meatpacking companies, scrutinizing potential price-fixing and market consolidation contributing to record-high beef prices.
- Four major processors—JBS, Cargill, Tyson, and National Beef—control more than 85% of the U.S. processing market, giving them what Agriculture Secretary Rollins called "an unprecedented ability to wield market power" over cattle prices.
- Acting Attorney General Blanche urged whistleblowers to report fraud, offering rewards of 15-30% of penalties exceeding $1 million. The Justice Department is expected to announce a "historic settlement" with data provider Agri Stats later this week.
- Drought and high feed costs have created the worst cattle shortage in 75 years. The country has lost more than 17% of its cattle ranchers over the past decade, even as meat processors deny responsibility for high prices.
- White House senior trade adviser Peter Navarro noted that foreign entities own half of these major processors. Rollins attributed the shrinking rancher population to the "radical left's ongoing assault against ranching as a way of life.
16 Articles
16 Articles
DOJ Launches Antitrust Probe on Big Beef: Are 4 Giant Companies Fixing Prices?
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice about the Trump administration’s antitrust investigation into the four major companies in the U.S. beef industry. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Justice Department has opened a sweeping antitrust investigation into the U.S. beef industry, examining whether decades of consolidation among the nation’s largest meatpacke…
Fairfield Sun Times
coastaltvnews.comMT ranchers monitoring DOJ meatpacking probe
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Department of Justice had been investigating the "big four" meatpacking companies. The allegations center on Tyson, JBS, Cargill and the National Beef Packing Company using their combined 85 percent market share to fix prices and pressure…
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