Executive Order
#14364 - Addressing Security Risks From Price Fixing and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Food Supply Chain, Dec. 6, 2025
Highlights
Addressing Security Risks from Price Fixing and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Food Supply Chain.” The EO establishes a task force comprised of the Attorney General and FTC Chairman to investigate food-related industries, with a particular focus on foreign-owned or controlled entities that participate in “the American food supply chain[.]" These food-adjacent or food-supportive industries include the “meat processing,” “seed,” “fertilizer,” and “equipment” sectors.
Key Compliance/Risk Cue
Antitrust, price/output coordination, wage fixing
Litigation Snapshot
There is already significant private antitrust litigation pending against major meat and poultry producers including Cargill, Tyson, and Smithfield. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid to date. While there are multiple classes involved, the core allegations are familiar: price fixing, supply restrictions, and even wage fixing. Also, many of these food adjacent markets have not historically been front and center for DOJ or FTC enforcement. DOJ did investigate Agri Stats, a third-party agricultural benchmarking platform alleged to have served as a hub that permitted the competing meat and poultry producers (“spokes”) to coordinate their prices, adjust/restrict output, and set wages. It is not clear that the agencies previously focused on the broader ecosystem of companies supporting the food supply chain.
