Skip to content
Main Menu
Utah Attorney General
Search
Attorney General
Sean D. Reyes
Utah Office of the Attorney General
Secondary Navigation

Attorney General Reyes Urges Investigation into Beef Packing Industry

June 2, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes is notifying the Department of Justice that a growing number of states intend to pursue a federal investigation into suspected national price-fixing by meatpackers in the cattle industry, and urge the Department to coordinate with the states on that investigation.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, AG Reyes expressed concern over the likelihood of manipulation of the market for processed beef. The four largest meatpacking companies control more than 80% of the beef processing in the United States. The shelf price of beef is exceptionally high, while cattle prices are low and continue to dive. The concern over market manipulation has increased with beef prices reaching record levels as consumers stockpile meat in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but cattle prices remain low and are decreasing.

“Especially now, we need to encourage fair competition in the meat packing industry and protect consumers,” said Attorney General Reyes.  “We intend to ask the DOJ to conduct a vigorous investigation into the meatpacking industry with an eye on what kinds of competitive practices occur.”

Attorney General Reyes says the pricing margins are a sign that meat packers are using their ability to control the market for processed beef and take advantage of the situation in a manner that could violate the federal antitrust law. In addition to harming cattle producers, this potentially illegal practice hurts consumers nationwide, many of whom are themselves struggling because of loss of employment and reduced incomes.

Attorney General Reyes and a growing number of Attorneys General from Midwestern states believe the situation warrants a full federal investigation because the alleged anticompetitive conduct harms consumers and cattle ranchers across the United States.

Read the letter here.

State AGs, Department of Justice Meet to Discuss Google Probe

February 5, 2020

Yesterday, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined the U.S. Department of Justice and fellow attorneys general to discuss coordinating efforts in the Google probe, which includes a bipartisan group of the nation’s attorneys general.

This follows the Department of Justice’s announcement in July 2019 that it was opening a broad antitrust investigation into “market-leading online platforms” – including Facebook, Amazon, and Google – and the September 2019 announcement by nearly all state attorneys general on plans to investigate Google’s overarching control of online advertising markets.

“We’re working well together and trying to make sure that there aren’t redundancies,” told Reuters outside the Justice Department. “We’re hoping to go as quickly as we possibly can but I don’t have a specific timetable.”

Read more here.