DOJ to Announce Major Settlements That Could Affect Prices for Chicken, Pork, and Turkey

Federal prosecutors have reviewed more than 3 million documents and conducted hundreds of interviews with ranchers, cattle producers, processors, and others as part of an ongoing investigation that started in November 2025 into the meatpacking industry.

Bill Pan

Published: 5/4/2026, 11:46:42 PM EDT

DOJ to Announce Major Settlements That Could Affect Prices for Chicken, Pork, and Turkey — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (C), Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins (2nd L), Director of Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro (1st L), and members of the beef industry hold a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on May 4, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In its latest move to address rising food prices, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the nation’s largest meatpackers for potential antitrust violations.

The probe is focused on the “Big Four” meatpackers that dominate the U.S. market: Cargill, JBS, National Beef, and Tyson Foods. Blanche cited a 2023 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that found the companies accounted for 85 percent of beef processing in the nation.

Blanche said investigators are examining possible signs of unlawful anti-competitive conduct, including multiple plant closures across the country, the current market structure, and the high level of concentration in the industry.

“We will use every law enforcement tool available to help reduce food prices, and vigorously enforce the antitrust laws to ensure every aspect of the agricultural industry competes on a fair playing field,” he said.

Joining Blanche at the press conference was Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said consolidation among a handful of meatpacking giants has left ranchers with fewer options to sell their animals and consumers with fewer choices in the marketplace.

“That level of concentration has surged from just 25 percent in 1977 to 71 percent by 1992, and now to an astonishing 85 percent,” Rollins wrote in a post on X after the press conference.

“When just four firms control a market, suppliers and food prices are rocked heavily when disruptions occur,” she said, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, animal disease outbreaks, labor disputes, foodborne illnesses, cybersecurity attacks, and facility problems such as fires.

Rollins specifically took issue with JBS, which is headquartered in Brazil, and National Beef, which is owned by Brazilian multinational company Marfrig. Allowing foreign-owned companies to wield that much market power, she said, is a “threat to America itself.”

“It becomes more and more clear that food security is truly national security,” she said.

US Experiences Shrinking Size of Cattle Herd

Rollins also pointed to the shrinking size of the U.S. cattle herd. As of Jan. 1, the United States had 27.6 million head of beef cows, a level she described as the lowest since the 1950s. She attributed the decline to drought, wildfires, market volatility, overregulation, and “climate alarmism.”

The investigation was ordered by President Donald Trump in November 2025. In a post on Truth Social, the president said he had directed the Justice Department to investigate the meatpacking industry. He accused the biggest companies of “driving up the price of beef through illicit collusion, price fixing, and price manipulation.”

“Action must be taken immediately to protect consumers, combat illegal monopolies, and ensure these corporations are not criminally profiting at the expense of the American people,” Trump wrote at the time.

In November, the national average price of a pound of ground beef had climbed to $6.54, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As of March 2026, the national average price of ground beef reached $6.70 a pound, down slightly from January and February but up nearly 16 percent from a year earlier. Beef steaks, which averaged $12.73 per pound in March, were also up 16 percent from a year earlier.

In its latest forecast, the Agriculture Department predicts wholesale beef prices to increase by 7.8 percent in 2026.

In a separate announcement related to the broader food supply market, Blanche said the Justice Department will announce major settlements that could affect prices for chicken, pork, and turkey. He said the settlements stem from concerns about how companies in the animal protein industry share “competitively sensitive information.”

During a question-and-answer session, Blanche declined to say whether the meatpacking probe is predominantly criminal but added that criminal and civil antitrust investigations often proceed in parallel.

The Epoch Times has reached out to all four companies for comment.