Fast food giant McDonald’s is taking a law suit in the United States where it is suing four major meat processing companies claiming that they ‘conspired to limit supply’ in order to boost their own profits.
Reuters has reported that McDonald’s filed the case in New York in recent days against Cargill, JBS S.A, JBS USA, , Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland Inc., National Befe Packing Company, Tyson Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.
In the legal paperwork, McDonald’s alleges that the companies listed and their co-conspirators “engaged in a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce in violation of Section One of the Sherman Act”.
The fast food franchise company added that “the goal of their conspiracy was to fix, raise, stabilize and/or maintain the price of beef sold” to McDonald’s and others at supra-competitive levels – that is, prices artificially higher than beef prices would have been in the absence of their conspiracy”.
McDonald’s claims in the legal documents that the meat processing companies managed to be successful in ‘price-fixing’ by undertaking certain methods.
The company claimed the processors and packers “implemented their conspiracy by coordinating, manipulating, or agreeing to pay less than competitive prices for the main or primary input in producing beef, namely, slaughter-ready cattle”.
Documents regarding the complaint described “beef” as including boxed and case-ready meat processed by companies such as Cargill, JBS and Tyson and other smaller producers from fed cattle, including primal cuts, trim or sub-primal products, further-processed and value-added products, offal or variety products, and rendered products and by-products.
