FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    AT
NOVEMBER 30, 1994                                            (202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

               FORMER DAIRY MANAGER CHARGED WITH BID RIGGING
               ON SCHOOL MILK CONTRACTS IN ILLINOIS AND IOWA


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former dairy manager of a Borden Inc.
subsidiary was charged today with conspiring to rig bids on dairy
products sold to schools in western Illinois and eastern Iowa,
according to the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
     To date, 63 corporations and 57 individuals have been
convicted and about $60 million in fines have been imposed in
cases involving the rigging of bids in supplying dairy products
to public school districts.
     According to charges filed in U.S. District Court in Peoria,
Illinois, W. Francis Cummins of Springfield, Illinois, discussed
anticipated bids for school dairy contracts with competing
dairies.  Cummins is a former manager for Meadow Gold Dairies
Inc., a subsidiary of Borden Inc.
     The Department said Cummins, who was involved in the
conspiracy from 1986 until the 1989-90 school year, intentionally
submitted high bids on some contracts to help the other
conspirators win school dairy contracts.
     Since July 1992, the Antitrust Division has brought five
criminal milk bid rigging cases against Meadow Gold.  Meadow Gold
pleaded guilty in all five and has paid a total of almost $4
million in fines and penalties for its involvement in the
criminal bid rigging conspiracies.
     The investigation, which is continuing, is being conducted
by the Antitrust Division's Chicago Field Office with the
assistance of the U.S. Attorney from Springfield, Illinois,
Frances C. Hulin; the Federal Bureau of Investigation's St. Louis
office; the Missouri Attorney General, Jeremiah (Jay) Nixon; the
Illinois Attorney General, Roland W. Burris; and the Great Plains
Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector
General office.
     Thus far, twenty-seven individuals have been sentenced to
serve an average of approximately six months imprisonment in
cases involving the supply of dairy products to public school
districts.  Civil damages total approximately $8 million. 
Seventeen grand juries in 14 states continue to investigate the
milk industry.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation occurring before November 16, 1990,
is three years imprisonment and a fine not to exceed the greatest
of $250,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from
the crime or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of
the crime.
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