Tomato processing, egg products industries probed

Tag : tomato

The Justice Department confirmed Tuesday that prosecutors areconducting separate inquiries into whether the tomato and eggindustries engaged in anticompetitive practices.
Federal prosecutors also have been looking at possible price-fixingin the citrus industry for at least a year.
Justice spokeswoman Gina Talamona confirmed the probes.
Although federal law bars competitors from collaborating whensetting their prices, Congress has created antitrust exemptionsintended to help small farm groups and cooperatives bargain withlarge food processors.
Inquiries into whether food producers overstepped those limits arebeing run by federal prosecutors in Sacramento, Calif., and anantitrust division of the Justice Department based in Philadelphia.
Two egg producers in Minnesota _ Golden Oval Eggs and Michael Foods_ noted in filings with the SEC this spring that they had beensubpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District ofPennsylvania.
The subpoenas requested documents for the period between Jan. 1,2002 through March 27, 2008 relating "primarily to the pricing,marketing, and sales of our egg products," both companies wrote intheir 10-Q filings.
Both companies said in the SEC filings that they intended tocooperate.
Sandie Wohlman, executive assistant of Golden Oval Eggs ofRenville, Minn., referred questions on Tuesday to an attorney, whodid not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking an interview.
Mark Witmer, treasurer and secretary of Michael Foods Inc., inMinnetonka, Minn., said: "We have fully responded to the requestfor information." When asked about Michael Foods' exports anddomestic production, Witmer said "that's not something wedisclose."
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Associated Press reporter Amy Forliti contributed from Minneapolis.