NEW YORK — McDonald's Corporation filed a lawsuit in a New York district court this week alleging that a group of its beef suppliers have been "artificially" raising the prices of its supplies since at least 2015.
The company is suing suppliers Cargill, JBS USA and sister company JBS Packerland, Swift, Tyson Foods and its sister company Tyson Fresh Meats, and the National Beef Packing Company as "co-conspirators" for price-fixing.
“The goal of their conspiracy was to fix, raise, stabilize, and/or maintain the price of beef sold to (McDonald’s) and others," the restaurant conglomerate says in their filing. The chain alleges that "supply and demand factors in the industry no longer explained the prices charged to direct purchasers," including McDonald's.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have launched investigations into McDonald's complaint.
The firm is seeking unspecified financial damages as well as a court order demanding an ends to the alleged price-fixing activities.
Cargill, JBS, National and Swift have also been accused of price-fixing by Target, who accuses the so-called 'Big Four' beef processors of "a coordinated effort to decrease cattle slaughter volumes" starting around 2015.
Both suits allege the decrease in volume led to a surge in demand, thus higher prices.
None of the companies accused of price-fixing have released public statements answering the charges.
