The fast food giant is suing Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company and their subsidiaries.

McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers.

The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company — and their subsidiaries, alleging a price fixing scheme for beef specifically. In a federal complaint, filed Friday in New York, McDonald’s accused the companies of anticompetitive measures such as collectively limiting supply to boost prices and charge “illegally inflated” amounts.

This collusion caused the beef market to become “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” McDonald’s suit reads — later noting that the injury it has sustained as one of those buyers is what “antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”

McDonald’s alleges that the meat packers’ conspiracy dates back nearly a decade, at least as early as January 2015, and continues today. Its suit argues these companies’ actions violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.

  • ThePowerOfGeekEnglish
    85•2 months ago

    We’ll isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. The restaurant chain famous for jacking prices up while shrinking portion sizes and generally screwing their customers in every way they can doesn’t like it when they are getting taken advantage of. Cry me a fucking river. Fuck you McDogsBreath!

    • magnetosphere
      24•2 months ago

      I will be thoroughly stunned if the huge settlement they may get actually results in lower prices for customers.

    • FenrirIII
      17•2 months ago

      To be fair, the screwing flows downriver. If the sourcers start getting greedy, the business has to make up the difference by increasing prices.

    • @octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5•2 months ago

      Yeah, I dunno how I missed this article. Makes me laugh that McD’s is going to try something like this.

      https://www.newsweek.com/mcdonalds-inflation-economy-price-increase-joe-biden-1905209

      TheStreet reported that Medium French Fries went from $1.79 in 2019 to $4.19 in 2024, a 134.1 percent increase. A McChicken went from $1.29 to $3.89, a 201.6 percent hike.

      The price of the beloved Big Mac increased 87.7 percent, from $3.99 to $7.49. An order of 10 McNuggets rose by 68.8 percent, from $4.49 to $7.58. Of the five popular products examined, cheeseburgers saw the largest price increase—going from $1 to $3.15, a 215 percent spike.

      These increases exceed the general average for inflation calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that prices went up by about 21.5 percent between the end of 2019 and March 2024.

    • Dragon Rider (drag)English
      -16•2 months ago

      Drag thinks that McDonald’s price gouging its customers is good. It forces people to eat less meat. Drag’s switch to veganism was probably helped by McDonald’s having outrageous prices.