A federal grand jury has indicted four current and former chicken company executives for price fixing.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that the executives from Colorado-based Pilgrim's Pride and Georgia-based Claxton Poultry conspired to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens from at least 2012 to 2017.

They are the first executives to be charged in a long-running investigation of price-fixing in the chicken industry. The executives could face 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. shares tumbled 10% Tuesday afternoon.