Managing Editor Price-fixing allegations against shelf-stable tuna provider Chicken of the Sea and its chief competitors, Bumble Bee and StarKist, first surfaced in 2015. The Kroger Co., Hy-Vee, Albertsons and H-E-B are among the food retailers that have settled a class action filed against Chicken of the Sea regarding price-fixing allegations in the shelf-stable tuna category that first surfaced in 2015, according to a published report. Seafood Source reported that San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea International, a division of Thai Union, was a whistleblower in the long-running scandal, which led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that ensnared chief competitors StarKist and Bumble Bee Foods, both of which pleaded guilty to charges of price-fixing and were hit with multimillion-dollar fines. Chicken of the Sea received immunity for helping the DOJ with the case, but it remains open to civil litigation because of its own admitted involvement in the price-fixing scheme.