Big Potato’s accused of a price-fixing spudspiracy in a handful of antitrust lawsuits

An industry in taters… Potato makers are getting chopped, boiled, and mashed up by antitrust. Five new federal lawsuits accuse frozen-spud producers Lamb Weston, Cavendish, McCain Foods, and Simplot of running a curly-fry cartel, colluding to overcharge grocery stores and consumers since 2021. The four companies are said to control 97% of the US frozen-potato market with products like fries, hashbrowns, and tater tots. The suits say that prices of those freezer-aisle staples have soared nearly 50% in the past two years through July.

• Freezer burn: The suits allege that the four potato companies announced extremely similar price hikes several times within days of one another. In a quarterly report last year, Lamb Weston said its profit more than doubled from the year before.

• ’Twas tot us: The spud sellers have denied the allegations. Lamb Weston previously said its costs, including for raw potatoes and labor, had spiked.

Courtroom food fights… Food-industry finger-pointing has reached a fever pitch after years of spiking grocery prices. McDonald’s last month said that meat packers’ greedflation from companies including Tyson is behind higher beef costs. And last year US chicken producers were ordered to face poultry price-fixing allegations. Sugar makers including Domino and Cargill were accused this year of artificially sweetening prices. The DOJ recently created an antitrust enforcement team focused on the agriculture sector to crack down on illegal activity.