DOJ Tactics Come Under Scrutiny After Chicken Price-Fixing Loss

The Justice Department’s defeat in its lawsuit against chicken-industry executives adds to a string of antitrust losses that casts a shadow on its scrutiny of the meat industry and broader enforcement goals.

Five former and current executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Georgia-based Claxton Poultry Farms were found not guilty of price-fixing in the trial, which ended July 7 in the US District Court for the District of Colorado. Two previous trials brought by the DOJ’s antitrust division in the same case ended with deadlocked juries.

The defeat follows the division’s first-ever attempts to bring criminal charges over alleged ...