Maplevale Farms, a foodservice provider that serves parts of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, has files a class-action antitrust lawsuit against many of the country’s top poultry processors, alleging that they conspired to manipulate the supply of chicken to keep the price of birds artificially high. According to the Cook County Record, the lawsuit names Koch Foods, Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms among the 14 defendants.
The Record reports, “The complaint centers on the supply of so-called “broilers,” the kind of chickens that supply the vast majority of all chicken sold and consumed in the U.S. According to the complaint, the value of the broiler market in the U.S. ranged from $21 billion to $31 billion from 2008-2013, and rose to $32.7 billion in 2014.