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.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

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

    I would have been disappointed if there wasn’t a line like this in the story somewhere. It practically writes itself.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    3 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@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

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

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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      3 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.

    • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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      3 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.

  • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    “Company sues for what company does to customers because those profits are theirs

    • Maeve@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      The worst part is, the average citizen anywhere in the world can not afford to do this. Only some other evil megacorporations

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 months ago

      Well it’s a lot like all the ISPs taking fucktons of money over 25 years to “roll out fiber” and then just basically pocketing the money.

      Corporations are the real welfare queens.

    • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Beef, the meat kept artificially cheap in the US by subsidies?

      FTFY, you are not alone in this stupidity. “Dutch Trump” Wilders got his votes because the government said that maybe the whole country should not be one big cattle farm.

  • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
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    3 months ago

    Capitalist system

    Big four fixing prices

    ShockedPikachu.png

    The system is working exactly as it’s designed to. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: captialism only encourages monopolies/cartels - that’s the whole point.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    If it’s beef, they why have their chicken nuggets also doubled in price in the last couple of years? Oh, this goes back almost a decade you say? So why did you double or triple prices post pandemic?

    • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Dude it’s literally right there at the beginning of the post

      The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You can’t honestly think McDonald’s trying to blame their massive price increases solely on their meat providers is valid.

        • Clasm@ttrpg.network
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          3 months ago

          It might be valid, but there’s no way McD’s was harmed. Their customers sure got that price fixing damage passed onto them, though.

          • GhostFaceSkrilla@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            It’s just over 11$ for 2 large fries. McD should also get sued. I feel like they’re just trying pass 100% of the blame on to their suppliers, after they’ve continued to post record profits year over year. They not only weren’t harmed, they’ve thrived and have been making even more money by price gouging. McD is as much, if not more culpable for inflating prices, than the meat packers.

            • Wilshire@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              You can get great deals in the app, all you have to do is let them harvest your data and “dark pattern” you into exclusively eating McDonald’s.

  • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    Hey everyone. This week, I challenge everyone to eat half as much beef as you normally would. If you eat 2 burgers a week, try just eating 1 and replace the other burger with a piece of chicken, or better yet, it’s autumn, and a ton of veggies are still fresh in season from the harvest.

    McDonalds can sue the beef packers, but we can cripple their entire supply chain and maybe help the planet out a little bit.

  • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

    Can we sue McDonald for all that they did to artificially decrease the cost of beef, and the immense harm that was done to the climate as a result?

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      And they’ll certainly reduce their prices once they get their supply chain work down right? … Right?

    • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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      3 months ago

      Drag thinks McDonald’s is evil and so is Big Beef. Natural beef is bad. Lab beef and imitation beef are ethical.

  • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 months ago

    Hey now, we should salute McDonalds for keeping Big Beef in check. Those prices trickle down to us! /s

  • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I trust what McDonald’s is saying in this case. If anyone knows what collusion to inflate prices and fuck over clients looks like, it’s the place with the broken soft serve machines.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    “This is an absurd accusation. We make money by employing children and undocumented immigrants and violating safety standards, not by colluding on prices.” -US meat industry