Dean Foods Sale to Top Dairy Co-Op Hit With Antitrust Challenge

Dairy Farmers of America Inc., the U.S.'s top milk producer, was hit with an antitrust lawsuit in North Carolina federal court Tuesday challenging its acquisition of the country’s largest milk processor, the bankrupt Dean Foods Co., three weeks after the Justice Department approved the $433 million deal.

“With capability to wield market power at two levels of the supply chain, DFA now has both the ability and the incentive to wipe out any remaining pockets of competition,” the suit says.

The tie-up will lead “inevitably” to “the death of the independent, family-owned dairy farm, and higher prices for ...