On March 26, 2021, Southern District of Florida District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga denied a motion to dismiss an antitrust class action alleging a conspiracy to fix the price of farm-raised Atlantic salmon globally....more
4/20/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Supply ,
Market Manipulation ,
Nasdaq ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market ,
Salmon ,
Seafood ,
Suppliers
On Monday, Northern District of Illinois Judge Virginia M. Kendall denied three motions to dismiss a putative class action alleging that the nation’s leading turkey suppliers—including Butterball, Cargill, House of Raeford,...more
As the Bilzin Sumberg team previously reported in June 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted four executives from Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton Poultry for their participation in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids...more
10/27/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Supply ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market
On June 8, 2020, Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action against TGI Friday’s (“Friday’s”) for alleged deceptive advertising....more
On June 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and Claxton Poultry Farms—two of the country’s largest chicken producers. The criminal action was filed in the District of...more
6/8/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Farms ,
Food Supply ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing
In the latest of a series of antitrust lawsuits involving the food industry, a Virginia federal court last week denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the peanut market....more
The rapid spread of COVID-19 (also commonly referred to as “novel coronavirus”) has caused nations and organizations across the world to take emergency action in the interest of public health. Most companies are issuing...more
3/11/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Brick-and-Mortar Stores ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Food Contamination ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Safety ,
Food Service Workers ,
Food Supply ,
Foreign Manufacturers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
On-Demand Services ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Supply Chain ,
Workplace Safety
Capitalizing on an increasingly health and environmentally conscious era, plant-based meat substitute companies are positioning themselves as the future of protein. On May 2, 2019, Beyond Meat became the first plant-based...more
When it rains, it pours—and for the country’s largest protein producers, the downpour is coming in the form of high-profile antitrust lawsuits. Over the past few years, food giants like Tyson and JBS (majority owner of...more
5/24/2019
/ Agribusiness ,
Cargill ,
Class Action ,
Farm Animals ,
Food Supply ,
Foreign Suppliers ,
Mercantile Industry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Purchase Price ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Salmon ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Tyson Foods
Price-fixing cases over the past decade have read like a virtual electronics product materials list. Government investigators and civil plaintiffs have pursued actions involving a wide array of electronic parts ranging from...more
5/7/2019
/ Amnesty ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Supply ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market ,
Seafood
Historically, all forms of cannabis—both hemp and marijuana—have been federally designated as illegal substances. That all changed this past December when the President signed the Agricultural Improvement Act (2018 Farm Bill)...more
4/29/2019
/ Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Emerging Markets ,
Farm Bill ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Safety ,
Food Supply ,
Hemp ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Marijuana-Infused Edibles ,
Public Hearing ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Rulemaking Process
When people think about this year’s food industry trends, they may envision app-based grocery delivery services, the Keto diet, and restaurants that serve all locally-sourced ingredients....more
At a recent Politico event, Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb signaled the agency’s shift to a new era of more stringent enforcement in the dairy business. Gottlieb did so with an amusing quote:...more
8/17/2018
/ False Advertising ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Labeling ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Marketing ,
Food Supply ,
Misbranding ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Nutrition Facts Labels ,
Plant Based Products ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards