The United States Department of Justice has proposed a settlement of its lawsuit against Agri Stats that would require it to sell its reports and manuals to anyone, including livestock and poultry producers and meat-company customers.
It would also ban the sale of books revealing companies’ sales volumes and also reporting sales volumes other than to the company asking for its own sales data.
The proposals were revealed in a Minnesota court this week.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche described the agreement as a “historic settlement” and said the company’s business model contributed to higher meat prices.
Agri Stats was named in a number of class-action lawsuits alleging price-fixing among the largest chicken, turkey, pork and beef packers.
The agreement also imposes confidentiality and recency requirements on reporting data, including provisions requiring some reports to contain information from at least three meat processors and limiting the use of recent production data.
A court-appointed monitor would oversee compliance for up to seven years, while Agri Stats also would be required to implement an antitrust compliance program that includes employee training, whistleblower protections and mandatory disclosure of potential violations.
Federal officials announced the settlement proposal alongside broader discussions of ongoing antitrust investigations into the meatpacking industry, including concerns over market concentration and information-sharing practices.
