Hormel Foods alleges in a US lawsuit that Johnsonville conspired with two of Hormel’s former employees to obtain sausage recipes and sensitive commercial information, The Minnesota Star Tribune reports.

The sausage market is “increasingly competitive”, the lawsuit states.

According to Hormel, one of their long-time employees joined Johnsonville as chief supply chain officer in June 2023 and subsequently began trying to poach other Hormel employees.

He succeeded in winning over another long-time Hormel employee, who allegedly emailed himself “product formulas, processing procedures, acquisition-target information and marketing-strategy information” before leaving the firm.

Hormel says it brought the two former employees’ conduct – which it says is in breach of agreements – to Johnsonville’s attention, but their competitor refused to cooperate.

The lawsuit seeks the return and deletion of the confidential data and monetary damages.