SACRAMENTO (LN) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the U.S. Department of Justice, and 5 other states settled antitrust allegations Thursday against Agri Stats, Inc., resolving claims the Indiana-based firm facilitated illegal price coordination among meat processors.
The settlement ends a lawsuit filed in November 2023 alleging that Agri Stats disseminated reports containing competitive information that chicken, pork, and turkey processors used to coordinate prices in violation of antitrust law.
Under the terms, Agri Stats must terminate its sales reports, make most non-sales reports publicly available, and cease disseminating competitively sensitive data. A court-appointed monitor will oversee compliance with the injunctive terms.
The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in Minnesota on May 18, 2026.
“Today, California, U.S. DOJ, and a bipartisan group of states end Agri Stats’ price coordination scheme that unlawfully increased meat prices for consumers,” Bonta said. “Thanks to our settlement, the markets for chicken, pork, and turkey meats will have more price competition.”
The coalition’s complaint alleged that meat processors used Agri Stats reports to increase prices when the data revealed they priced below the industry average. According to the complaint, Agri Stats told subscribing processors how to use the weekly and monthly reports to weaken competition.
Executives at some of the country’s largest meat processors testified that they could not recall any examples in which their companies used Agri Stats information to lower prices.
At the time the complaint was filed in 2023, meat processors accounted for more than 90% of broiler chicken sales, 80% of pork sales, and 90% of turkey sales in the United States.
Bonta joined the U.S. DOJ and the attorneys general of Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah in securing the settlement.