U.S. Chicken Producer Charged with Price-Fixing

Claxton Poultry Farms Incorporated has been indicted in Colorado on charges of price-fixing broiler chickens produced for sale to restaurants and grocery stores. A Successful Farming Dot Com article says the U.S. Justice Department announced the charges on Thursday. The company’s president and vice president were previously indicted for their roles in a nationwide conspiracy to fix chicken prices from 2012 to 2019. If the company is found guilty, Claxton could be fined up to 100 million dollars or twice what it gained in the price-fixing. Claxton is based in Georgia and sells 300 million pounds of chicken every year to 750 customers, including some of the country’s biggest restaurant and grocery store chains. In February, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, one of the largest American poultry producers, pled guilty and was sentenced to pay $107.9 million to settle the federal charges that it conspired to fix chicken prices and passed on the costs to consumers and other purchasers. Pilgrim’s Pride is primarily owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA.