MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — Hormel Foods Corp. became the latest pork producer to reach a settlement regarding the ongoing allegations of a price-fixing conspiracy in the industry.

For this round of settlements, Hormel agreed to pay $2.43 million to the commercial indirect purchaser class in this case.

Court documents revealed that this is the third settlement with commercial and institutional indirect purchaser plaintiffs (CIIPS) following earlier settlements by JBS and Smithfield Foods. The monetary relief from the case now stands at more than $57 million in total.

The price-fixing litigations, which date back to 2018, were officially consolidated and transferred to Minnesota District Judge John Tunheim in December 2022.

Seaboard Foods LLC previously reached a settlement with plaintiffs in which it agreed to pay $9.75 million.

Plaintiffs previously alleged that a group of pork processors, who make up about 80% of the market, manipulate the pork market and its prices. The processors allegedly coordinated supply restrictions and shared competitively sensitive price and product information.