April 14, 2006

US meat giants hauled to court for price manipulation 

The big boys of the US meat packing industry were hauled to court for violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act Wednesday (Apr 12) in the US state of South Dakota.

In a classic David versus Goliath scenario, 3 cattle producers sued industry giants Tyson Foods Inc, Swift & Co, Cargill Inc and National beef for US$42 million in damages for knowingly using erroneous USDA reports to pay producers less for their cattle from April 2 to May 11, 2001.

The jury found Tyson Foods Inc, Swift & Co, and Cargill Inc guilty for trying to control or manipulate prices paid to cattle producers. A fourth defendant, National Beef, was found not guilty.

Jurors found Tyson liable for US$4 million, Cargill US$3 million and Swift US$2.25 million.

Damages from the class-action lawsuit would be split between all qualifying farmers and ranchers who sold livestock to the companies between that timeframe.

Tyson and Swift both plan to appeal while Cargill has yet to make a decision.