Beef price

TORONTO - Allegations of price-fixing beef in Canada has led to a proposed $8-million class-action lawsuit settlement.

The two companies in question might not be household names, but their red meat products are found in fridges from homes to butcher shops to grocery-store markets across the country.

JBS USA Company, Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland Inc., JBS Canada ULC (known collectively as “JBS”) and the National Beef Packing Company have been accused of working together to fix the price of red meat, which has in part driven costs higher.

Inside Ellas Meat Market in Toronto’s east end, owner George Laganas carries a box of JBS sirloin into his meat locker. The second-generation butcher shares that the cuts he orders from JBS for his customers are top of the line. He has also watched with bewilderment as the price of beef has soared.

“My fear is once it goes up, it will never come back down again,” Laganas says.

He admits the news that one of his suppliers is tied to an alleged price-fixing scandal has been difficult for his customers to stomach.

“It leaves a bad taste in customers’ mouths because we’ve seen a large increase in prices so quickly. We do our best at Ellas to keep our prices the same, but our margins have been shrinking big time,” Laganas says.

While not an admission of guilt, JBS has agreed to pay nearly $7.5 million. National Beef has agreed to pay $495,000. The amount individual Canadians can expect to receive from the lawsuit has not been determined.

Restaurants will not be able to cash in on the settlement, though Canadian consumers who purchased beef for personal use and shops like Ellas Meat Market will be allowed to register and join the lawsuit.

Even though JBS has agreed to the multi-million dollar payout, an email from a company spokesperson says “we believe the claims are without merit, and the agreement was entered into solely to avoid the expense and uncertainty of prolonged litigation.”

Laganas says the lawsuit might make people happy in the short term, but he would rather see more regulations limiting the wholesale price of red meat.

“The suppliers are going to pay out millions, great everyone’s going to be happy, where’s that going to come from? Laganas asks. “It’s eventually going to come from the customer’s pocket, it’s just a vicious circle.”

For Canadians who want to add their names to the class-action lawsuit, the courts are expected to approve a registration and payment process in the months ahead.

With files from CTV News’ Luca Caruso-Moro