Antitrust suit vs. major chicken companies to continue

A class-action lawsuit accusing the nation’s top poultry producers of price-fixing since 2008 will move forward now that a federal judge declined to dismiss the action filed in 2016 accusing the defendants of violating the antitrust-focused Sherman Act. Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., filed the lawsuit more than one year ago, accusing 14 poultry processors – including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms – of working together to artificially inflate broiler supplies even as feed prices were falling. The suit accused the companies of slaughtering 10 million breeder chickens in an effort to hamper the ability to meet sudden consumer demand.