Attorney General Bonta Secures End of Unlawful Meat Price Coordination, Announces Settlement with Agri Stats

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ), and a bipartisan coalition of five other attorneys general, today reached a settlement with Agri Stats, Inc. (Agri Stats), resolving allegations that the company facilitated an information exchange between meat producers and processors that increased meat prices for Americans. In November 2023, Attorney General Bonta joined a lawsuit alleging that Agri Stats disseminated reports that included competitive information that chicken, pork, and turkey processors used to coordinate on prices, violating antitrust law. The settlement includes strong injunctive relief, recovery of attorneys’ fees, and most importantly, ends the illegal exchange of competitively sensitive pricing information. 

“Today, California, U.S. DOJ, and a bipartisan group of states end Agri Stats’ price coordination scheme that unlawfully increased meat prices for consumers,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Thanks to our settlement, the markets for chicken, pork, and turkey meats will have more price competition. I’m proud to have put an end to a scheme that drove up prices on the backs of everyday Californians. My office is deeply committed to going after antitrust violations and celebrates not only this settlement, but our work here with partners across the country and in the federal government.”

Today’s settlement obtains the relief that U.S. DOJ and plaintiff states sought in the complaint. Specifically, Agri Stats must terminate its sales reports, make most of its non-sales reports publicly available, and cease disseminating competitively sensitive data. The settlement also provides for a court-appointed monitor to oversee compliance with the injunctive terms. The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in Minnesota on May 18, 2026. 

BACKGROUND

Agri Stats is an Indiana-based company that provides industry reports and consulting services to meat processors. It collects sales and other data related to meat production and processing from its customers and then disseminates that information back to the same customers via reports and consulting services. 

Agri Stats did not make its reports available to the public. The coalition’s complaint alleged that meat processors used the reports to increase prices where the reports revealed they priced below the industry average. Agri Stats not only disseminated this information, but also told subscribing meat processors how to use the weekly and monthly reports to weaken competition — executives at some of the country’s largest meat processors testified that they could not recall any examples in which their companies used Agri Stats information to lower prices. In 2023, at the time the complaint was filed, meat processors accounted for more than 90% of broiler chicken sales, 80% of pork sales, and 90% of turkey sales in the United States.

In securing this settlement, Attorney General Bonta joins U.S. DOJ and the attorneys general of Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.