Egg giants settle price-fixing claims
As reported by major news outlets including The Associated Press, three major egg producers — Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch — have reached proposed settlements with the U.S. Justice Department and 17 states over allegations they colluded to raise egg prices between June 2022 and March 2025.
The complaint says the companies coordinated bids submitted to Urner Barry Publications, whose pricing index helps determine what grocery stores, restaurants, and others pay for eggs. Egg prices hit a record average of about $6.23 per dozen in March 2025, with companies blaming avian flu and supply shocks. Investigators say prices dropped significantly after the companies learned of the Justice Department probe.
The companies did not admit wrongdoing. Under the proposed settlements, they would pay a combined $3.3 million and donate 53 million eggs to food banks and nonprofits. Cal-Maine, which reported $1.22 billion in profit for fiscal year 2025, would pay $1.5 million and donate 30 million eggs.
Advocacy group Farm Action, a partner of SOFAF, criticized the deal, arguing that consumers paid record prices while dominant producers enjoyed extraordinary profits, and that the settlement risks becoming just another cost of doing business.
The group pointed to Cal-Maine’s $1.22 billion in fiscal year 2025 profit, compared with just $1.5 million it would pay under the settlement, as evidence that the penalty may not be a meaningful deterrent. Farm Action also argued that consumers and taxpayers were hit twice: first through record egg prices, and then through public subsidies to the same industry while funding for local and regional food systems was cut.
Farm Action says the case shows why stronger antitrust enforcement, tougher penalties, limits on bailouts for dominant firms, and structural reforms are needed to restore competition in the food system.
Read more: https://farmaction.us/doj-egg-settlement-falls-short-of-accountability/
