The Justice Department has reached proposed settlements in a civil lawsuit against three top egg sellers accused of illegally inflating market egg prices through claims that avian flu depleted supplies.
DOJ’s antitrust division intends to direct Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman’s Egg Ranch and Versova to pay a combined total of $3.3 million in monetary compensation to 17 states. The companies will be tasked with providing egg donations to food banks or nonprofit organizations. The settlement also bars certain communications to prevent future price gouging.
“No product more quintessentially represents affordability than the price Americans pay for eggs,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a press release. “These actions prove this department’s continued commitment to protecting competition and providing real relief for everyday Americans’ pocketbooks.”
Cal-Maine agreed to pay $1.5 million and donate 30 million eggs, while Hickman’s and Versova agreed to pay $1 million and $800,000 respectively. Hickman’s will donate 3.3 million eggs and Versova will donate 20 million.
The states will have the discretion to use the money to enforce antitrust laws, establish a consumer protection account or for any other use the state’s attorney general deems necessary.
While the companies will have to pay the states in the suit, they were not ordered to pay any fines or penalties.
Cal-Maine, facing the steepest payment order, denied any wrongdoing.
“Temporary supply shocks, including in connection with multiple outbreaks of avian influenza, the COVID-19 pandemic, weather and other market dynamics – compounded by high inflation at the time – caused egg prices to surge periodically over the past five years,” Sherman Miller, president and CEO of Cal-Maine Foods, said in a press release.
Bird flu was confirmed in a US commercial flock in 2022. Impacted birds have to be culled to mitigate the spread. USDA announced in 2025 a $1 billion strategy to curb bird flu, of which $400 million was earmarked for impacted farmers.
Cal-Maine said that it invested $88 million on biosecurity since 2015 and took steps to protect its hens.
A farmer-led watchdog organization, Farm Action, raised concerns about whether the settlement will be a “meaningful deterrent or merely another business expense.” The group helped bring attention to the possibility of egg price gouging when costs soared in June of 2022 through March of 2025.
“Consumers paid record prices while dominant egg producers reported extraordinary profits, yet the result is another settlement that corporations can treat as the cost of doing business rather than meaningful accountability,” Angela Huffman, the president of Farm Action, said in a statement.
Cal-Maine reported $1.2 billion in earnings during the price spike, according to Farm Action. The three egg producers worked together to artificially inflate egg prices by agreeing to submit a large number of bids to manipulate Urner Barry’s price quotations, which influences egg prices in grocery stores and restaurants, the complaint says.
Urner Barry provides "actionable intelligence to stakeholders in the poultry, egg, meat, seafood, plant protein and related segments of the food industry," the company says.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for Iowa’s Northern District, says the firms agreed to submit bids that were unlikely to lead to trades, in order to increase the quotations. The defendants also lobbied Urner Barry to increase its quotations, using their bids, trades and premium prices as justification, according to the complaint.
The settlement bars Cal-Maine, Hickman’s and Versova from communicating with competitors on bidding strategy or prices, including the number or timing of bids. However, the settlement doesn’t preclude the defendants from communicating with competitors or a broker acting as an intermediary to buy or sell eggs if the sale is solely between one of the defendants and a competitor.
They would be allowed to discuss prices with competitors for co-packed eggs and can make general statements on earnings calls or public filings provided there is no forward-looking information about prices, the number of bids or timing.
The companies will be audited twice a year to ensure they're complying with the terms of the settlement. They will also have to submit several reports and establish antitrust compliance policies to be approved by the federal government.
The settlement still has to be approved by the court.
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