Egg Producers Settle Price-Fixing Allegations for Over $3 Million
Three egg producers, including publicly traded Cal-Maine Foods, have agreed to pay $3.3 million and donate millions of eggs to resolve charges of an alleged price-fixing conspiracy.
Three major U.S. egg producers have agreed to pay a combined $3.3 million and donate 53 million eggs to food banks to settle allegations of a conspiracy to keep egg prices artificially high. The settlement involves Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch, announced last week by the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general.
Prosecutors accused the companies of secretly communicating to coordinate bids submitted to Urner Barry Publications, a benchmark pricing service whose daily quotations influence prices paid by retailers and restaurants for most commercial eggs. Cal-Maine Foods, the only publicly traded defendant, reported $1.22 billion in profit for fiscal year 2025, overlapping with the alleged scheme.
The complaint noted that egg price quotations dropped significantly after the companies learned of the antitrust investigation in March 2025. Document preservation instructions around that time corresponded with retail prices falling from an average of $6.23 per dozen to about $2.19.
Cal-Maine and Versova denied wrongdoing, attributing higher prices to bird flu outbreaks and pandemic-related supply chain disruptions. This case is part of a broader pattern seen across many sectors of the U.S. economy for decades, where corporate fines have often failed to deter such practices.