Four more state attorneys general have joined the Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to block the purchase of National Beef Packing Co. by JBS S.A.

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America — R-CALF USA — said Arizona, Connecticut, New Mexico and Mississippi attorneys general have joined in the lawsuit filed in Chicago by the Justice Department last month. There were 13 attorneys general in the original suit, including Colorado.

JBS S.A. is the parent company of JBS Swift & Co. of Greeley. Earlier this year, it announced it intended to buy National Beef, the fourth largest meatpacker in the U.S., along with the Smithfield Foods beef division and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding. The purchase of Smithfield and Five Rivers was completed soon after the lawsuit was filed Oct. 20.

JBS has indicated it intends to fight the lawsuit and continue its attempt to buy National. If that purchase is complete, JBS Swift would become the largest meatpacker in the nation.