By Will Feuer
The Justice Department said the attorneys general of Minnesota, California, North Carolina and Tennessee joined a civil antitrust lawsuit filed by the DOJ's Antitrust Division against Agri Stats, a provider of data for the meatpacking industry.
"We look forward to working closely with state attorneys general to litigate this important case, which affects food prices for consumers across the country," said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.
Agri Stats, an Indiana company that gathers and shares information from pork- and poultry-processing plants, formulates statistics that meat companies purchase and use to measure the performance of their plants and operations.
The Justice Department has alleged that meat-industry executives used the data service to identify details about rivals' supplies so they could raise prices without concerns of losing market share. Prosecutors say Agri Stats' data encourages meatpackers to reduce the amount of livestock they slaughter and increase prices paid by consumers, according to the civil suit filed in Minneapolis federal court.
Representatives for Agri Stats didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for the company has denied the government's allegations.
Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-06-23 1216ET
