US

Feds and Walmart allege canned tuna prices fixed

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Customers walk past the head of a bluefin tuna in front of a seafood restaurant at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Tuesday, May 16, 2017. Criminal and civil cases allege executives at the largest canned tuna companies were agreeing to collectively raise prices and limit promotions. Major retailers are taking aim at the most popular tuna brands in the U.S. - Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and StarKist - saying they conspired to keep prices high for consumers. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this March 23, 2016, file photo, tuna caught by foreign fishermen aboard American boats are lined up at the Honolulu Fish Auction at Pier 38 in Honolulu. Criminal and civil cases allege executives at the largest canned tuna companies were agreeing to collectively raise prices and limit promotions. Major retailers are taking aim at the most popular tuna brands in the U.S. - Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and StarKist - saying they conspired to keep prices high for consumers. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) (The Associated Press)

Major retailers are taking aim at the most popular tuna brands in the U.S. — Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and StarKist — saying they conspired to keep prices high for consumers.

Criminal and civil court records updated this week show dozens of tuna executives are alleged to have engaged in price fixing.

A lawsuit filed by Wal-Mart targets some of the wealthiest businessmen in Thailand, where Chicken of the Sea's parent company Thai Union is based.

The Department of Justice has been investigating the allegations against the three companies, which combined supply about 80 percent of the $1.7 billion of canned tuna sold annually in the United States, since 2015.

Companies that responded said they could not comment citing ongoing litigation.