Three months after a plea deal with the government that provided for a fine of $ 110.5 million, Pilgrim’s Pride, the second largest poultry processor in the United States, announced on Monday that it would pay $ 75 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by its clients. Other pricing requests are pending in the legal system, Pilgrim’s said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“While Pilgrim’s accepts no responsibility for the alleged claims in the Broiler Antitrust civil litigation, it believes a settlement was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders,” the Greeley, Colorado-based company said. , and majority owned by Brazilian meat packer JBS SA.

If approved by a judge, the $ 75 million would be the largest settlement to date in lawsuits that allege collusion between poultry processors to rig prices, the news site said. Catering place. There have been allegations of pricing among pork and beef processors as well.

At the latest count, 10 executives from at least five poultry processing companies were indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver as part of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice. The indictments include two former CEOs of Pilgrim’s. The government says the price-fixing conspiracy worked from at least 2012 until at least early 2019 and resulted in higher prices for consumers.

Americans spend tens of billions of dollars each year on meat. According to USDA data, about 40% of that amount is for broiler chicken. Beef accounts for 30% of meat consumption, followed by pork, at 23%, and turkey, at 6%.

In mid-October of last year, of the pilgrim announced a plea deal with the Justice Department and said it would pay a fine of $ 110.5 million “for restricting competition which affected three contracts to sell chicken products to a customer in the USA”.

Tyson Foods, the largest poultry processor in the United States, said last June it was cooperating with the Department of Justice in the pricing investigation in a corporate leniency request , which would protect the company from criminal prosecution. Tyson is based in Springdale, Arkansas.

The top five poultry processors in the United States are, in order, Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Farms, Perdue, and Koch Food.

To read Pilgrim’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC, Click here.