Pilgrim’s Pride, the second-largest chicken producer in the United States, has become the first company to plead guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids in the broiler chicken industry and will pay a $108 million criminal fine, the Department of Justice announced Feb. 23.
The settlement entered with Pilgrim’s—which is majority owned by Brazilian meat producer JBS—is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price-fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the broiler chicken industry.
