McDonald’s has filed a lawsuit against JBS, Tyson Foods, and other leading meat processing and packing companies, accusing them of conspiring for years to limit beef supplies. This alleged conspiracy boosted the meatpackers’ profits while forcing McDonald’s to pay artificially inflated prices.
In a lawsuit submitted on Friday in Brooklyn federal court, McDonald’s claims the meatpackers, including Cargill and National Beef Packing, collectively reduced their output since 2015 to drive up industry prices.
The lawsuit marks the latest accusation against the world’s largest meatpackers for violating U.S. antitrust laws by coordinating their cattle purchase prices and slaughter volumes. “Only colluding meatpackers would expect to benefit by reducing their prices and purchases of slaughtered cattle because they would know that their conspiracy would shield them from the dynamics of a competitive marketplace,” McDonald’s asserts in its lawsuit.
On Monday, JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef did not respond to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit. McDonald’s also did not provide immediate comments. The meat producers have denied any wrongdoing in related cases consolidated in Minnesota federal court. Plaintiffs in those cases include BJ’s Wholesale, Sodexo, Target, and Aldi. Additionally, beef meatpackers face lawsuits from U.S. consumers, cattle producers, and others seeking class-action status and monetary damages in Minnesota.
Cattle producers who sold animals directly to the meatpackers for slaughter report losing billions due to the alleged scheme, according to court records. McDonald’s operates 13,000 branded restaurants in the United States, contributing to its global footprint of 39,000 restaurants across more than 100 countries.
McDonald’s seeks unspecified monetary damages and asks the court to end the alleged price-fixing conspiracy.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis oversees the coordinated beef antitrust legal proceedings. In 2022, JBS announced a settlement, agreeing to pay $52.5 million to resolve some class action claims from purchasers.
The case is McDonald’s Corp v. Cargill et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-07017-TAM.
