Bought beef since 2015? Customers could get a piece of an $8M settlement

A proposed class-action settlement worth nearly $8 million, and stemming from allegations of price manipulation with some beef products, could eventually see some Canadian customers receive compensation, pending court approval.

Price-fixing is an anti-competitive agreement where businesses collude to set and maintain prices for goods and services. In the past, these price-fixing schemes wound up costing consumers, who may have faced unnecessarily higher prices for some beef products.

The proposed beef price-fixing settlement was announced Thursday in a release after two of the companies involved agreed to the terms.

The class action alleges the companies “participated in an unlawful conspiracy to fix, maintain, control, or lessen the production or supply of beef and fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize the price of beef sold to purchasers in Canada, starting at least as early as Jan. 1, 2015.”

The class action began in 2022, according to the settlement documents, and was brought forward by several legal teams. This included CFM Lawyers LLP and Strosberg Wingfield Sasso LLP in B.C., and, in Québec, Belleau Lapointe LLP.

A similar bread price-fixing class action in Canada involving a group of companies — mainly Loblaw Inc. and its parent, George Weston Limited, along with Canada Bread Company — resulted in about $500 million in settlements and compensation for consumers who paid artificially higher prices for some bread products from 2001 to 2015.

One of the companies that agreed to the beef price-fixing settlement is JBS, which is considered the largest meat processing company in the world. The settlement agreement includes the following JBS subsidiaries: JBS USA Company, Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland Inc. and JBS Canada ULC.

The National Beef Packing Company, LLC — aka “National Beef” — also agreed to the settlement terms.

JBS has agreed to pay $7,498,700 to class members, while National Beef has agreed to pay $495,000. This means nearly $8 million could be distributed among eligible class members once legal fees and other related costs are deducted.

The settlement agreement defines “Class Members” as eligible customers who purchased fresh and frozen raw beef products for personal consumption or resale in Canada on or after Jan. 1, 2015, and excludes certain purchases, including those made through the food service industry.

The release also mentions two other companies, Cargill and Tyson, which are not part of the agreement, as class actions against them are ongoing.

Under the settlement, the companies which agree to its terms would pay money to resolve the claims against them without admitting wrongdoing. The documents say this represents “compromises of disputed claims.”

In other words, companies that agree to the settlement won’t have to go to court to dispute the claims, nor will the plaintiffs’ legal teams be required to submit evidence to support their allegations of price-fixing.

“The Settled Amount shall be distributed to Settlement Class Members in accordance with the Distribution Protocol and the orders of the Courts,” the settlement agreement says.

Canadians who want to opt out of the class action have until Aug. 10, 2026, to do so.

The first approval hearing will take place in a B.C. court on Sept. 10, 2026, covering B.C. and all Canadian class members other than those in Quebec.

The Quebec approval hearing will take place separately on Dec. 1. 2026.

If the courts approve the settlements, details on when and how the money will be distributed among qualifying Canadians will be made public.