Pilgrim’s Delight Company has agreed to pay $100 million to settle claims that it conspired with different poultry integrators to underpay contract growers.
In line with a Reuters report, a preliminary settlement was filed on August 16 within the U.S. District Court docket in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The proposed settlement nonetheless wants the approval of U.S. District Decide Robert Shelby.
Within the seven-year-old antitrust lawsuit, Pilgrim’s Delight is accused of sharing confidential data regarding grower compensation with different poultry corporations, in addition to agreeing with different corporations to not try to recruit each other’s growers.
Regardless of agreeing to the settlement, Pilgrim’s Delight denies any wrongdoing.
Different corporations accused of collusion on this lawsuit have beforehand reached settlements. In line with the Reuters report, included in these corporations are Tyson Meals, Sanderson Farms, Koch Meals and Perdue Meals. Nonetheless, none of their settlement quantities had been close to as excessive as the quantity agreed to by Pilgrim’s Delight.
The earlier highest agreed-to quantity concerned Tyson Meals, which settled for $21 million. The smallest quantity concerned Perdue, which settled for $14.75 million.
Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, Pilgrim’s Delight is the second largest poultry producer in the US. Throughout 2023, the corporate processed 161.7 million kilos of ready-to-cook hen on a weekly foundation. In line with data from the WATTPoultry.com Prime Poultry Firms Database, Pilgrim’s Delight operates 26 slaughter vegetation, 33 hatcheries and 27 feed mills.
