The Fair Trade Commission has accused six companies of cooking companies of violating the Antimonopoly Act by repeatedly colluding for at least seven years in bidding for school lunches introduced at public junior high schools in Nagoya City. In response, interviews with related parties revealed that they have decided to order the companies to pay a total of approximately 390 million yen in fines.
The companies suspected of violating the Antimonopoly Act are
``Hagakure Yushin'' in Minato Ward, Tokyo, ``
Uokuni Sohonsha'' in Osaka, and ``Nippon General Food''
and ``Matsuura,'' both of which are headquartered in Nagoya. The six companies are Shoten, Mitsuo, and MayQ.
In January of last year, the six companies were raided by the Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of repeated bid-rigging in bidding for a project called "Junior High School School Lunch," which the city of Nagoya introduced for school lunches at public junior high schools in the city. I took the test.
"Junior High School School Lunch" is a system in which students choose what they want to eat from multiple menus during school lunch time, and is implemented at almost all public junior high schools in Nagoya City.
According to people involved, the six companies appear to have engaged in repeated collusion for at least seven years to determine the winning bidder and the price through prior discussions. The company has decided to order the company to pay a surcharge of 390 million yen.
It is expected that a final decision will be made after hearing opinions from the company.