When American families were rationing eggs, hunting for cartons at the back of store shelves, and paying north of $8 a dozen at the peak of the price spiral, the nation’s largest egg producers appear to have been quietly coordinating through an industry price-benchmarking service to keep that index and their profits artificially elevated.
Regular readers of Legal Insurrection will recall a 2025 deep dive into whether “Big Egg” was exploiting the bird-flu crisis as cover for something more calculated:
The avian flu outbreak has devastated the poultry industry. Over the past two years, the virus has wiped out millions of egg-laying hens across the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that nearly 60 million birds have been culled to prevent the disease from spreading further. This loss in production naturally leads to higher prices—fewer hens mean fewer eggs, and in a market driven by supply and demand, scarcity drives costs upward.But while bird flu is a legitimate concern, it is far from the only influence. The poultry industry has historically dealt with similar outbreaks without triggering such dramatic price hikes. So what makes this time different?
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of 17 states announced a settlement with three of those producers Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch) who will collectively pay $3.3 million in civil penalties and donate 53 million eggs to food banks, while agreeing to end the price-coordination practices.
The egg producers — Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch — “illegally coordinated” over nearly three years to inflate a daily price index for eggs, the coalition alleged, citing the results of an investigation into egg-price collusion that began more than a year ago.—The allegations of collusion come amid an affordability crunch among U.S. consumers and as inflation has risen at its fastest pace in more than three years.Egg prices became a poster child of sorts for high inflation in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.In February 2023, for example, average retail prices for a dozen large Grade A eggs had spiked 150% from a year earlier, the largest annual change on record, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The companies must also designate compliance officers to ensure that all aspects of the agreement are carried-out.
The agreements require the companies to cease their illegal conduct and establish safeguards to prevent similar misconduct in the future. Each company must appoint compliance officers responsible for overseeing adherence to their settlement and report any violations to the Office of the Attorney General, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other participating states.An investigation conducted alongside the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice and several partner states found that the companies conspired to coordinate their bidding activity to influence daily egg price quotes published by Urner Barry, a benchmark pricing service used in egg supply contracts with grocery retailers and the food service industry. In one instance, a Hickman’s executive urged executives at Cal-Maine and Versova to submit aggressive, repeated bids to push prices higher. All three companies then placed numerous, elevated bids, prompting Urner Barry to raise its price quotes. By manipulating this industry benchmark, the companies artificially inflated the cost of eggs paid by Texas consumers.”I will continue to hold any corporation accountable if they violate our laws to raise prices on Texans,” said Attorney General Paxton. “These three major egg producers conspired to profit off antitrust violations that ultimately raised the prices of eggs for Americans. Now, they will have to donate over 7 million eggs to food banks across Texas. This settlement serves as another reform that we have secured to prevent price gouging and unlawful conduct that hurts Americans and their wallets.”
It turns out that while Americans were told to blame a virus and tighten their belts, some of the biggest players in “Big Egg” were allegedly gaming the system behind the scenes.
The new settlement may close this chapter, but it raises a far larger question about how easily essential food markets can be manipulated under the cover of crisis.
Finally, this development should be a warning shot about pandemic-based excuses for profiteering that arise no matter the virus, whether it’s bird flu, covid, or another type of pathogen.
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