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An alleged “potato cartel” stands accused of conspiring to raise the price of frozen french fries, hash browns and tater tots in the United States. This will not stand.
According to a new CBC News report, “Four companies currently dominating a multibillion-dollar market in the United States are being accused of sharing detailed, sensitive inside information with each other as part of an alleged conspiracy to raise the price of their goods and make more money off consumers.”
The four companies, McCain Foods, Cavendish Farms, Lamb Weston, and J.R. Simplot, along with the National Potato Promotion Board, were named as defendants in two proposed class action lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court this week.
They stand accused of conspiring “to raise, stabilize, fix [or] otherwise manipulate the prices in the market for the frozen potatoes in the United States,” according to one of the lawsuits.
“Armed with the same access to each other’s data on pricing and other sensitive information, as well as with a direct line of communication to each other, the potato cartel moves prices skyward in lockstep — harming all purchasers of potatoes in the process,” the plaintiffs claim.
Amazing how all of the major suppliers for French Fries and the like are all raising their prices at the same time and by the same amount. Totally not collusion or anything, right?@BarredinDC, we would like to submit a lawsuit in front of the International Potato Tribunal ASAP. pic.twitter.com/cVFzGHQDCc
— Insta @ivyconey (@ivyandconey) April 19, 2022
In a second lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim, “Each of the defendants willingly share their commercial data and information with PotatoTrac/NPD, knowing that the only other commercial industry participants are their major Frozen Potato Products competitors.”
In a statement to CBC News, McCain said it “strongly disputes any allegation that the company violated antitrust laws, or any other laws, with respect to the sale of frozen potato products” and that it “intends to vigorously defend the recently filed lawsuits so that it can focus on what we do best: delivering high quality, affordable food to customers nationwide.”
Lamb Weston stands accused of telling its managers to only discuss their competitors’ pricing over text, not via email, so that it would be more difficult to “be discovered in the event of an antitrust investigation.”
The four companies named in the lawsuits control up 98 percent of the frozen potato products sold in the United States.
No word on how this affects, if at all, the financial status of the New Orleans Saints’ starting center Connor McGovern. As we reported recently, the 31-year-old is the heir to a potato fortune worth over $500 million.