Egg Price Fixing Shouldn’t Be Just Another Cost Of Doing Business

Americans have spent years watching the cost of basic groceries climb. Few items became a bigger symbol of that frustration than eggs.

When egg prices soared beginning in 2022, Americans were repeatedly told that avian flu and reduced supply explained the increases. But U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showed the egg-laying flock had declined only modestly compared with how dramatically prices had climbed.

In January 2023, Farm Action called for a federal investigation. Meanwhile, Cal-Maine Foods, the nation’s largest egg company, had not reported a single case of avian flu at its facilities and was reporting dramatically higher profits.

When egg prices surged again, we kept digging. In February 2025, Farm Action called for an investigation a second time after our continued analysis raised new concerns about soaring prices and restricted supply. Three weeks later, President Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an antitrust investigation into the egg industry.

Now we know much more.

In June 2026, the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman’s Egg Ranch, and Versova coordinated for nearly three years to manipulate a benchmark used to help set egg prices across the country.

The allegations are remarkably direct.

According to the DOJ’s complaint, in October 2022, a Cal-Maine executive told the CEO of Hickman’s: “We are bidding up. Let’s hold it today.”

In December, Hickman’s CEO instructed executives to place “strong bids, early and often” before market reporters arrived for work. When Versova placed high bids and sellers actually tried to accept them, its executives discussed deleting those bids.