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EGGS: When the Price of Breakfast Isn't Just About the Chickens

por Erica McRAE

WHO CONTROLS OUR FOOD? | Episode 2 of 6

A note on sourcing and language: This article discusses allegations contained in a civil antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 states. Proposed settlements are not findings of guilt, and the settling companies did not admit liability. We will tell you when something is alleged, settled or proven.

Table of Contents

Y'all remember when eggs got so expensive everybody suddenly became an economist?

Bird flu.

Feed costs.

Supply.

Demand.

Those things matter.

But in June 2026, the United States Department of Justice and attorneys general from 17 states filed a civil antitrust lawsuit alleging something else was happening too.

According to the government, some major egg producers coordinated bids in a way designed to manipulate an important egg-price benchmark upward.

And that benchmark matters because when a number helps determine what businesses pay for eggs, moving that number can move a whole lot more than breakfast.

First, What Did the Government Actually Allege?

The lawsuit names Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman's Egg Ranch and companies associated with Versova.

The government's complaint alleges that from at least June 2022 through March 2025, the companies coordinated certain bids submitted to Urner Barry, a company that publishes widely used egg-price quotations.

The allegation is basically this:

Companies that were supposed to compete independently allegedly coordinated bids designed to push the benchmark higher.

The Justice Department says the result was higher prices for retailers and consumers.

That is an allegation in a civil antitrust case.

It is not a criminal conviction.

And that's important.

Because around here we're going to tell the story, but we're also going to tell it right.

Why Does a Benchmark Matter to Me?

Because your grocery store doesn't exist in a bubble.

Prices move through systems.

Imagine several houses in your neighborhood sell for unusually high prices, then everybody starts using those sales to decide what the rest of the neighborhood is worth.

The benchmark becomes important even if you weren't involved in those original sales.

Egg markets can work similarly.

According to the Justice Department, Urner Barry's egg-price quotations were widely used by industry participants to negotiate and set egg prices.

So if companies could artificially influence the number everybody else was looking at, the effect could travel much farther than the original transaction.

That's why this case matters.

Now Let's Follow the Money

Let's look at Cal-Maine, the largest egg company in the United States.

For fiscal year 2025, Cal-Maine reported:

  • $4.26 billion in net sales.
  • $1.22 billion in net income attributable to the company.
  • About 1.283 billion dozen eggs sold.

That's more than 15 billion eggs sold in one fiscal year.

Cal-Maine itself explained that higher egg prices during that year were primarily related to reduced industry supply caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza, along with strong consumer demand.

That matters too.

We are NOT saying Cal-Maine's $1.22 billion profit came from the conduct alleged in this lawsuit.

We are NOT saying every increase in egg prices was caused by price manipulation.

Bird flu was real.

Supply problems were real.

Demand was real.

But that's exactly why transparency matters.

When legitimate market pressures are already pushing prices upward, consumers need to know that the numbers underneath those prices are being produced by real competition.

Then Came the Settlements

The Justice Department filed proposed settlements at the same time it filed the lawsuit.

Under those proposed agreements, the companies would face restrictions intended to prevent this kind of coordination from happening again.

There was also money and food involved.

The proposed agreements called for:

That's more than 53 million eggs designated for donation.

And listen.

I appreciate food going to families who need it.

I absolutely do.

But let's put one of those numbers in perspective.

Cal-Maine reported selling approximately 1.283 billion dozen eggs in fiscal 2025.

That's more than 15 billion individual eggs.

Thirty million eggs sounds enormous because to you and me, it IS enormous.

Compared with the scale of the largest egg company in America?

It's a different conversation.

And that is why I keep telling y'all:

Follow the numbers all the way through.

Charity and Accountability Are Not the Same Thing

There is something else I don't want us to miss.

Millions of donated eggs can feed a lot of people.

That's good.

But food going to hungry families does not answer every question about how a market operates.

Charity is valuable. Accountability is different.

We should be able to appreciate one without confusing it for the other.

And because these are proposed civil settlements, we also need to be precise about what they mean.

A settlement can resolve a case or restrict future conduct without the defendant admitting wrongdoing.

That's different from what we showed you in Episode 1, where Pilgrim's Pride entered a criminal guilty plea in the broiler chicken investigation.

Different case.

Different evidence.

Different legal status.

Same reason we read past the headline.

Here's What Really Bothers Me

Think about how much information the average family has when buying eggs.

You walk into the store.

You see $2.99. $4.99. $6.99. Maybe $8.99.

You see cage-free. Organic. Pasture-raised. Large. Extra-large. Store brand. Fancy carton. Brown eggs. White eggs.

You can compare what's sitting on the shelf.

What you cannot see is everything happening upstream that helped create those prices.

You don't see the benchmark.

You don't see the bids.

You don't see the contracts.

You don't see what competitors know about each other.

You don't know whether today's price moved because chickens got sick, feed got expensive, demand jumped, supply dropped or somebody somewhere was allegedly playing with the number.

You just know eggs cost too damn much.

That's an information problem.

And the person standing in the grocery aisle usually has the least information of everybody involved.

This Is Bigger Than Eggs

That's why this series isn't really about chicken.

Or eggs.

Or beef.

It's about power.

Who has information? Who has choices? Who can negotiate? Who can investigate? Who can absorb a price increase? And who simply gets to the register and finds out breakfast costs more this week?

The answer cannot be telling regular people to become experts in agricultural commodity markets before buying a dozen eggs.

The system should work without requiring that.

But we can still build more choices around ourselves.

Buy eggs directly from a farmer when you can. Find local producers. Support independent agricultural businesses. Raise chickens if your space, time and local laws allow it. Join a buying group. Use a farmers market. Grow something else that reduces your grocery bill.

And don't think you have to do all of it.

Food independence isn't doing everything yourself. It's having more than one door.

Ready to Build Another Door?

We've put together our Food Independence Ecosystem with practical places to start, whether you want to grow food, find farmers and producers, buy directly, barter, learn, build an agricultural business or help strengthen your local food system.

Explore the Food Independence Ecosystem →

Because I refuse to spend six episodes telling you who has the power and leave you feeling powerless.

We don't sell fear here.

We build power.

Next: Episode 3 — BEEF. Because when four companies handle most of America's fed-cattle market, we need to talk about what "choice" looks like before that steak ever reaches the grocery store.

Sources

On the DOJ civil antitrust case:

On the proposed final judgments:

On Cal-Maine's financials:

  • SEC — Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Form 10-K, Fiscal Year 2025
    Supports: $4.261885 billion in net sales; $1.220048 billion in net income attributable to Cal-Maine; approximately 1.283 billion dozen eggs sold; Cal-Maine's own explanation that higher prices were primarily related to reduced industry supply from highly pathogenic avian influenza and strong consumer demand. Note: these financials reflect the full fiscal year and are not a measure of any illegal gain.

Claims in the article not yet matched to a primary source — flagged for your review:

  • "Cal-Maine [is] the largest egg company in the United States" — widely reported and consistent with the 10-K's market discussion, but the 10-K itself may not use that exact phrase. Recommend confirming the exact language in the 10-K or adding a secondary source (e.g., USDA or trade publication) if you want a direct citation for that specific claim.
  • "The proposed agreements called for... 53 million eggs designated for donation" — the 53 million total is the sum of 30M + 20M + 3.25M from the three proposed final judgments. The math is supportable from those three documents, but no single source states "53 million" as a combined figure. No action needed unless you want to add a clarifying note.
  • Reference to the Pilgrim's Pride criminal guilty plea in the Charity section — already sourced to the DOJ press release from Episode 1. No new source needed; the existing link is included inline.

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