BROOKLYN, NY. — McDonald’s Corp. filed a complaint against Cargill Inc., JBS S.A., National Beef Packing Co., Tyson Foods Inc. and their affiliates for allegedly conspiring to fix the price of beef for nearly a decade.

In the complaint, filed on Oct. 4 with the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, McDonald’s said it had purchased beef from one or more of the meat processors from Jan. 1, 2015, until the present day. During that period, McDonald’s claims the companies colluded “to reduce supplies of beef in tandem, thereby raising and fixing beef prices at levels higher than prices that would have prevailed had the beef market been competitive.”

McDonald’s claims to have suffered antitrust injury by paying illegally inflated prices for beef as a result of the processors’ alleged violation of Section One of the Sherman Act. The quick-service food chain is demanding a trial by jury.

In its case, McDonald’s builds on arguments presented against the companies in previous suits and ongoing investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) related to anticompetitive practices.

Based on unsealed information and court filings, McDonald’s pointed out that one witness, a former employee of Swift Beef, has confirmed the existence of a conspiracy among the processors to reduce cattle purchases and slaughter volumes in order to increase their margins.

McDonald's added that the defendants controlled around 81-85% of the domestic market-ready fed cattle processed during the specified conspiracy period. The next largest meatpacker outside of those named in the suit had only 2-3% market share.

According to the McDonald’s complaint, the beef market began to experience a change in price behavior in 2015, a shift that the company accredits to the alleged conspiracy between processors.

In 2020, the DOJ issued subpoenas to Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson to investigate anticompetitive activity. The processors have faced several antitrust lawsuits over the last few years.