Justice Department settles antitrust case against Agri Stats over meat pricing

The Justice Department’s settlement with Agri Stats put consumer prices front and center in a fight over whether meat processors used shared data to keep chicken, pork and turkey costs moving in lockstep. If approved, the deal would force a major change in how pricing information moves through the market, a shift federal officials say could lower grocery bills.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the proposed settlement on Thursday and said it would help lower food prices. The civil case, filed in federal court in Minnesota on September 28, 2023, had been headed to trial on May 18, 2026, before the deal removed a high-profile antitrust showdown from the court calendar. Six state attorneys general joined the Justice Department: California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

The government’s case accused Agri Stats Inc., based in Indiana, of helping competing meat processors share price, output and cost information in ways that violated antitrust law. According to the Justice Department, Agri Stats collected data directly from processors’ accounting systems, standardized it, and sent detailed digital and written reports back to those processors, along with in-person meetings. The department said those reports were not made available to meat buyers such as restaurants, grocery stores and food distributors.

Federal lawyers also said the participating processors accounted for more than 90% of U.S. broiler chicken sales, 80% of pork sales and 90% of turkey sales. That concentration gave the case unusual weight in Washington, where officials have increasingly cast food inflation as a competition issue. Blanche said the company’s business model allowed confidential information to be shared among meat producers while buyers were left at a disadvantage.

The Justice Department said the proposed settlement would help undo decades of distorted competition in the broiler chicken market and keep the pork and turkey markets free from the alleged practices. It also would require Agri Stats to make its reports available to buyers and sellers, which prosecutors say would level the field across the supply chain.

Agri Stats has long denied the allegations and argued that its benchmarking services improved efficiency and helped produce more meat at lower prices. The company did not immediately respond after the settlement was announced. In May 2024, the court denied Agri Stats’s motion to dismiss and motion to transfer, keeping the case in Minnesota and moving it closer to trial before Thursday’s settlement intervened.

The deal lands as Blanche said the Justice Department was also investigating beef processors in a broader meatpacking antitrust probe. Together, the actions signal a wider enforcement push aimed at the data systems and market structures that federal officials say can shape what Americans pay at the meat counter.