The four largest US meatpackers have been accused of knowingly submitting misleading beef price data to the USDA.
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A class action lawsuit has been filed against Tyson Foods, Cargill’s meat division Excel Corp, ConAgra Foods’ beef company and Farmland Industries, claiming the companies manipulated the price of live cattle for over a month by submitting falsified reports of daily purchase prices. The alleged actions of the groups could have cost ranchers millions of dollars.
The suit, filed at the US District Court in Aberdeen, South Dakota, alleges the fraud went on between 2 April and 11 May, until the USDA uncovered it 14 May.
The misreported data could have allowed the companies to buy cattle at artificially low prices, as it is used by the USDA to ascertain a benchmark price used by ranchers to sell their commodities to the meat companies. The lawsuit claims the companies were able to purchase cattle at “substantially lower” prices because of the false data, saving themselves millions of dollars.
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By GlobalData
