Recent food industry settlements give consumers, workers, and businesses several open windows to file claims — most notably an $87.5 million beef price-fixing fund for household grocery buyers, a $200 million wage-suppression fund for meatpacking employees, and a $5.5 million pet food salmonella fund awaiting the outcome of an appeal. Other resolutions announced between late 2025 and mid-2026 cover egg price gouging, meat-industry data sharing, fast-food scheduling violations, and false advertising of Joint Juice and Balance of Nature supplements. Deadlines and eligibility vary sharply by case, and a few of the biggest headlines produce no consumer payment at all.
Beef Price-Fixing: $87.5 Million for Grocery Shoppers
Tyson Foods and Cargill agreed to pay a combined $87.5 million, with $55 million from Tyson and $32.5 million from Cargill, to settle claims that they used a market allocation scheme to suppress competitive pricing for beef. Neither company admitted wrongdoing.1PIX11. New Yorkers Qualify for This $87.5 Million Class Action Settlement
You may file a claim if you indirectly purchased fresh or frozen beef from chuck, loin, rib, or round primal cuts between August 1, 2014, and December 31, 2019. Proof of purchase is required, and the claim deadline is June 30, 2026. The underlying lawsuit continues against JBS USA Food Company, Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland, and National Beef Packing Company, so additional settlements in this case are possible.2OverchargedForBeef.com. Consumer Indirect Beef Litigation Email Notice
$47 Million for Restaurants and Food Service Businesses
A separate track in the same multidistrict litigation covers commercial and institutional buyers. Tyson agreed to pay $47 million to resolve claims by restaurants, food service companies, and similar businesses that bought raw beef for use in food preparation between January 1, 2015, and May 6, 2026.3Feedstuffs. Tyson Settles With Commercial Beef Purchasers for $47M Federal Judge John Tunheim in the District of Minnesota granted preliminary approval in May 2026.4Meatingplace. Tyson’s Multi-Million-Dollar Beef Settlement Gets Initial Approval No payments have been issued, and the deadline to opt out or object is August 10, 2026.5BeefCommercialCase.com. Beef Commercial Case Settlement
$200 Million for Meatpacking Workers
More than a dozen beef and pork processing companies agreed to pay over $200 million to resolve a class action alleging they conspired to suppress employee wages. The case, Brown v. JBS USA Food Company, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in November 2022.6ClassAction.org. $200.2M Settlement With Beef and Pork Processing Plants Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Wage Suppression
The complaint alleged that Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, Hormel, Perdue Farms, National Beef Packing, Seaboard Foods, and others violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by exchanging secret compensation data through consulting firms Agri Stats and WMS, holding clandestine meetings, and maintaining illegal “no poach” agreements.7Berger Montague. Red Meat Processing Plant Wage Fixing Litigation
The settlement covers workers employed at any of the defendants’ processing plants between January 1, 2000, and February 27, 2024, with a subclass for those employed from 2014 onward. If you got an official notice you do not need to file a claim. If you did not, you must submit a claim form by October 7, 2026. A final approval hearing was set for June 4, 2026.6ClassAction.org. $200.2M Settlement With Beef and Pork Processing Plants Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Wage Suppression The litigation continues against Agri Stats, Greater Omaha Packing, and Smithfield Foods.8Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. Firms Announce $202.7 Million in Settlements for Beef and Pork Processing Plant Workers
Mid America Pet Food Salmonella: Approved but on Hold
A $5.5 million class action settlement was finalized in February 2026 in Filardi v. Mid-America Pet Food, LLC, resolving claims that the company sold salmonella-contaminated pet food. The settlement covers consumers who bought recalled products manufactured by Mid America Pet Food with “best by” dates before October 31, 2024.9ClassAction.org. $5.5M Mid America Pet Food Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over Salmonella Contamination
Contamination led to three rounds of recalls in late 2023, eventually covering all pet food the company produced. Affected brands included Victor Super Premium, Wayne Feeds, Eagle Mountain, and Member’s Mark.10U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA and CDC Investigate Cases of Salmonella Linked to Pet Food Made by Mid-America Pet Food The FDA and CDC linked the products to seven human salmonella infections, six of them in children age one or younger, with one hospitalization.11Pet Food Industry. Mid America Pet Food Settles Salmonella Lawsuit for $5.5 Million
Class members with documented pet injury or food purchase claims can recover up to 100 percent of their losses, capped at $100,000 for injury claims. Those without receipts or vet records can still file for $50 per pet that became ill, $100 per pet that died, and up to $40 for food purchases (two bags at $20 each).12MidAmericaPetFoodSettlement.com. Mid America Pet Food Settlement The claim deadline was February 5, 2026, and the court granted final approval on February 6, 2026. Someone filed a notice of appeal on March 4, 2026, and no payments will go out until the appeal is resolved. As of June 2026, the appeal remained pending.13ClaimDepot. Mid America Pet Food Settlement
Cal-Maine Egg Settlement: No Consumer Payments
The Cal-Maine egg price gouging settlement produces no money for individual buyers. On January 15, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a resolution of the state’s 2020 lawsuit alleging that Cal-Maine, the country’s dominant egg supplier, raised prices by roughly 300 percent during the early months of the pandemic, charging about $3 per dozen for eggs that had sold for around $1.14Texas Attorney General. Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Over Two Million Free Eggs for Texans
The settlement contains no monetary payment and no admission of wrongdoing. Cal-Maine agreed to donate 180,000 dozen eggs, roughly 2.16 million individual eggs, to 17 Texas food banks within 120 days and to pay all shipping and storage costs. For 10 years, the company is barred from selling eggs at prices that violate Texas’s consumer protection law during declared disasters.15Regulatory Oversight. Texas AG Settles Lawsuit That Cracked Down on COVID-Era Egg Prices
Separate federal action against egg producers is still developing. As of April 2026, the DOJ was reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Cal-Maine, Versova, and other major producers over alleged price coordination through an industry benchmarking service, though no formal charges had been filed.16The Poultry Site. DOJ Targets Egg Producers in Price-Fixing Probe A related class action alleging that Cal-Maine and other producers conspired with benchmarking platform Urner Barry to inflate prices using the avian flu as a pretext has been transferred to a multidistrict litigation proceeding in the Western District of Wisconsin.17CourtListener. Habash v. Urner Barry Publications, Inc. Neither generates a consumer claim at this stage.
Agri Stats: Structural Remedy, Not a Consumer Fund
On May 7, 2026, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed a proposed settlement to resolve antitrust claims against Agri Stats Inc., a Fort Wayne, Indiana data consulting firm. The DOJ alleged that Agri Stats spent decades funneling competitively sensitive pricing, production, cost, and labor data among rival chicken, pork, and turkey processors, enabling coordinated price increases that raised meat prices for consumers.18U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Requires Agri Stats to End Exchange of Competitively Sensitive Information
Under the proposed judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, Agri Stats must stop sharing non-public sales data, company rankings, and facility-level production or cost information among competing processors. Any data the company reports must be aggregated, anonymized, and time-lagged, with a 45-day minimum for general data and 90 days for production-decision data. Agri Stats will pay $350,000 to the plaintiff states (California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah) and submit to a court-appointed compliance monitor for seven years.19Farm Policy News. DOJ Reaches Settlement With Agri Stats Over Meat Price Fixing There is no consumer restitution fund.
NYC Fast-Food and Retail Workers: $1.8 Million in Restitution
New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced in March 2026 that it had secured roughly $1.8 million in restitution for more than 830 fast-food and retail workers through Fair Workweek Law enforcement actions.20FOX 5 New York. NYC Secures $1.8M for 830 Fast-Food and Retail Workers in Labor Law Settlements
The largest piece involved Salz Management LLC, a franchisee operating 24 Dunkin’ and Taco Bell locations in Manhattan and Queens. After a two-year investigation, the company agreed to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to over 760 workers plus $155,000 in civil penalties. Cited violations included failing to post schedules 14 days in advance, changing schedules without employee consent, failing to pay premiums for “clopening” shifts, and not offering new shifts to existing workers before hiring.21The City. Dunkin’ Donuts Settlement Over Fair Workweek Law Violations Some workers are eligible for up to $7,000 each, and payments are expected to begin in August 2026.22NYC.gov. Mamdani Administration Secures Nearly $2M in Restitution for 800 Workers
A separate settlement with Theory LLC, a fashion retailer, added more than $277,000 for over 60 workers at two Manhattan locations, along with $21,000 in penalties. A pending enforcement petition against QSR Management LLC, another Dunkin’ franchisee, alleges thousands of scheduling and protected-time-off violations affecting about 1,000 workers across 21 Staten Island locations. That case remains active before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.20FOX 5 New York. NYC Secures $1.8M for 830 Fast-Food and Retail Workers in Labor Law Settlements
Supplement False Advertising Settlements
Two consumable-product settlements close out the recent list. On May 5, 2026, a California court granted final approval to settlements totaling approximately $90 million, ending more than a decade of litigation against Premier Nutrition over its Joint Juice glucosamine beverages. Plaintiffs alleged the products falsely claimed to support joint health, maintain cartilage, and improve joint comfort without adequate scientific backing. The settlements cover purchasers across nine states, with $19.16 million allocated to New York consumers alone.23NutraIngredients. After 12 Years, Joint Juice Litigation Ends With $90M Settlements24JointJuiceSettlement.com. Joint Juice Settlement – New York
A class action settlement of up to $9.95 million was reached in Morris v. Evig, LLC to resolve allegations that Balance of Nature deceptively marketed its fruit, vegetable, and fiber supplement capsules. The claim deadline passed on March 11, 2026, with payouts of $6 per unit with proof of purchase or $4 without, subject to household caps. A final approval hearing was held on March 6, 2026, but as of mid-2026 the court had not yet issued a ruling.25Supplements-Settlement.com. Balance of Nature Supplements Settlement