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Food

Is There a Massive Conspiracy to Overcharge You for Chicken Nuggets?

Antitrust? Cartel? Collusion? Conspiracy? Call it want you want, but something is afoot in America’s $29 billion chicken industry.
Photo via Flickr user Andri Koolme

Antitrust? Cartel? Collusion? Conspiracy? Call it want you want, but something is afoot in America's $29 billion chicken industry.

Needless to say, any time there is this much money at stake, basic economic forces dictate that pricing will be fiercely competitive. It also usually means that there could be darker forces at play—conspiratorial forces—trying to maximize profits and stick it to consumers.

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That latter scenario is the thesis put forward in a 113-page antitrust class action lawsuit filed by New York food distributor Maplevale Farms on behalf of other distributors who purchase directly from chicken "producers," Bloomberg reports.

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According to the Department of Agriculture, America produces 53.4 billion pounds (that's 8.69 billion little chicken guys) every year, with average annual per capita chicken consumption at 60 pounds—up 300 percent from 20 pounds in 1909. It has even surpassed beef as America's favorite meat—not bad for big-breasted birds who can't fly.

Like many other areas of agriculture and farming, price-fixing and limiting supply are common in the chicken industry. But what isn't quite so expected, if the allegations of this lawsuit are to be believed, are reports of chicken producers killing birds early, shipping eggs to Mexico, and "buying one another's products to keep public supply low."

But perhaps the most staggering thing here, unless you're one of the billions of chickens here being treated like bulk goods, it's that consumers could be paying a 50 percent premium on chicken because of the greedy cabal.

Three of the defendants in the case—Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim's Pride Corp., and Simmons Foods Inc.—denied any accusations of keep supply low and prices high and instead pointed to record corn prices to justify their pricey poultry. But the real question is who is pulling the strings of the multi-billion-dollar industry in this apparent chicken conspiracy? Is it the Rothschilds? Interdimensional reptilians? The Bilderberg Group? It must be the Bilderberg Group. Maybe it's part of some sick satanic animal sacrifice operating on a mass scale?

Actually, sorry, that's not the real question here. The real question here is whether or not consumers are getting scammed every time they buy Double Downs and popcorn chicken. And while that remains to be seen, one thing is for sure; we will hear a lot more about the dark side of chicken as this cases progresses.