Tesco has said it is considering legal action after being hit with a £10m fine for joining other UK supermarkets and suppliers in fixing the price of dairy products.
The Office of Fair Trading accused nine companies of colluding in order to fix the price of cheese and milk items between 2002 and 2003.
Supermarket chains Asda, Sainsbury's and Safeway, along with suppliers Arla, Dairy Crest, McLelland, The Cheese Company and Wiseman, admitted liability and received lenient fines, according to a report by the Guardian.
Tesco however has denied its involvement and today announced that it would defend its position vigorously.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, the company's director of corporate and legal affairs, said: "We surely have now reached the stage where the absurdity of the OFT operating as investigator, prosecutor and judge cannot be allowed to continue."
The OFT claims consumers were forced to pay £270m more for products than they should have done due to collusion.
