The Secret Plot to Raise Meat Prices
Analytics firm Agri Stats has quietly enabled major meat processors to coordinate price hikes and suppress wages for decades. Despite outcry over algorithmic price-setting, the companies are settling lawsuits over it without paying substantial penalties.
A Justice Department lawsuit alleges that Agri Stats allowed major meat processors to exchange competitively sensitive information through its detailed data reports. (Ramin Talaie / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to private and federal lawsuits, the country’s biggest meat processors have been using a secretive data company to share sensitive information, enabling them to hike up prices and suppress wages for decades.
The revelation comes as meat prices have increased precipitously, with rising chicken, pork, and turkey prices generating recent headlines. Meanwhile, meat-industry workers’ wages have largely stagnated.
Despite growing scrutiny and public outcry over algorithmic price-setting of consumer goods and services, critics say meatpackers are settling these collusion lawsuits without admitting guilt or paying substantial penalties, meaning they’re free to keep using the data analytics firm to fix prices and drive down workers’ earnings.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.