WalMart has joined companies that have filed lawsuits against a group of chicken companies accused of rigging production and prices.
Companies named as defendants include: Pilgrim’s Pride, Koch Foods, JCG Foods, Koch Meat Co., various Sanderson Farms units, House of Raeford Farms, MAR- JAC Poultry, Perdue Farms and Perdue Foods, Wayne Farms, various O.K. Foods units, Peco Foods, Harrison Poultry, Foster Farms, Claxton Poultry Farms, various Mountaire Farms units Amick Farms, various Case Foods units and Agri Stats Inc.
The lawsuit alleges that Agri Stats Inc. was hired to collect information about production volumes, facilities and breeds and the chicken companies used that information to police their price-fixing scheme.
Since a food distributor Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., filed a similar suit in September 2016, restaurant and retail chains, as well as some consumer products companies and distributors have filed additional suits.
The Walmart lawsuit does not name Fieldale Farms as a defendant because it has agreed to pay $2.5 million.
