By Jody Godoy
May 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice plans to settle its case against data company Agri Stats with an agreement officials hope will help drive down food costs, White House adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday.
The DOJ alleges Agri Stats’ weekly reports on meat pricing and sales enabled anti-competitive practices in the chicken, pork, and turkey industries. The case is scheduled to go to trial this month.
Agri Stats has called the claims baseless and said its services result in lower prices. A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has been increasingly focused on affordability as Americans sour on how President Donald Trump has handled the rising cost of living.
MEAT-PACKING INDUSTRY PROBE
Speaking at the same press conference, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ will use every law enforcement tool available to address rising food prices.
Prosecutors have reviewed more than 3 million documents and conducted interviews in their ongoing probe of the meat-packing industry, Blanche said. He urged whistleblowers to come forward and potentially claim financial awards for information.
“Multiple plant closures across the country, the current market structure, and high concentration in the industry indicate anti-competitive activity,” Blanche said without naming the companies involved.
Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Company slaughter about 85% of U.S. grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, beef roasts and other cuts of meat in supermarkets.
The companies have been accused in private lawsuits of conspiring to inflate U.S. beef prices by restricting supply. They have denied wrongdoing. Tyson, Cargill and JBS have agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle some claims.
Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Joe Bavier and Nia Williams)
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