DOJ Says Upcoming Settlement Will Help Ease Food Prices 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on May 4 that it would soon unveil a “historic settlement that will directly affect the prices of proteins like chicken, pork, and turkey.”

Senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters that the administration hopes to reach an agreement soon with consumer data analytics company Agri Stats.

Navarro alleged the company is engaging in price-fixing by coming up with a “monopoly price” used by meat producers. A trial for the DOJ’s lawsuit is set to begin on May 18.

Agri Stats has said the allegations stem from “baseless legal theories,” adding that courts previously found “there simply was no evidence that Agri Stats reports contained data that could be used to fix prices or reduce output.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the settlement was coming as part of a broader plan by the Trump administration to halt anticompetitive behavior in food pricing.

In November 2025, President Donald Trump announced he was directing the DOJ to look into meatpacking companies that were allegedly “driving up the price of beef through illicit collusion, price fixing, and manipulation.”

He followed up with an executive order creating food supply chain security task forces for the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission in December.

“Since the president’s executive order, the department has been actively investigating with a review of over 3 million documents: hundreds of industry participants, including ranchers, cattlemen, producers and processors have been contacted and many interviewed as part of this ongoing investigation,” Blanche said during a May 4 press conference.

That investigation is directed toward the four largest meatpacking corporations in the United States: Cargill, Tyson Foods, Brazilian-controlled JBS, and National Beef, which currently control about 85 percent of meat processing, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.

She said that the four firms’ grip on the cattle processing market has skyrocketed since 1977, when those four companies controlled only 25 percent, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Epoch Times reached out to the companies for comment.

Rollins said that apart from eliminating anticompetitive market practices, the Agriculture Department is focusing on lowering meat prices by boosting the U.S. cattle population, which she said is at its lowest point since the 1950s.

She attributed the drop in cattle to “climate alarmism,” along with droughts, wildfires, volatile markets, and “over-regulation from previous administrations.”

Her department will combat the shortage by cutting back regulations and inspection fees, as well as opening up millions of acres for grazing, she said.

The DOJ’s investigation follows a proposal by Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to break up a purported monopoly held by these companies.

“The pernicious stranglehold of the meatpacking monopoly has weakened our supply chains and price gouged consumers at the grocery store,” Schumer said in a statement in March.

The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act would make it illegal for a major meatpacking company to control more than one type of meat, and it would limit their reach by imposing concentration caps on beef markets.

It would also give the Federal Trade Commission authority to order divestitures of plants and facilities.

Rollins said that the four previously mentioned companies control more than 70 subsidiaries between them.

Chase Smith contributed to this report.

This story was updated on May 5 to add context on the DOJ’s settlement.