Cal-Maine, Others Poised to Settle DOJ Egg Pricing Probe
Cal-Maine Foods Inc. and other egg suppliers are close to resolving an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and a bipartisan group of states into alleged illegal price coordination, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department and the states are also close to settling with Hickmans’s Egg Ranch Inc. and Versova, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter.
The companies have agreed to pay several million dollars in civil penalties and donate more than 50 million eggs under terms of the agreement, the people said. They have also agreed to stop exchanging prices and other competitively sensitive information, said the people.
Bloomberg previously reported that the Justice Department’s investigation focused on the use of Expana, an industry data service formerly known as Urner Barry, that benchmarks prices for the market.
A settlement is expected to be filed in Iowa federal court as soon as this week, the people said. The settlement requires court approval before it’s final.
The Justice Department, Cal-Maine, Hickmans and Versova didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours.
The investigation, which kicked off a little over a year ago, followed record-breaking prices in early 2025, when the average price of a dozen eggs reached as high as $6.22. The price spike occurred as bird flu outbreaks forced farmers to slaughter millions of egg-laying hens. Prices have since fallen dramatically, hitting $2.19 per dozen in May, a nearly 65% drop, according to USDA data.
It’s possible that some states could file a separate case, either as a lawsuit or settlement, the people said. Cal-Maine has previously disclosed separate investigations by Washington state and New York.
The settlement is a priority for the Trump administration, which has sought to curtail an affordability crisis for millions of Americans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
As part of those efforts, the Justice Department is homing in on the agriculture industry, focusing on the rising costs faced by farmers and ranchers and soaring prices of key grocery staples like beef and eggs.
Last year the president demanded the DOJ investigate the beef industry for price-fixing and the department soon after opened criminal and civil investigations into the four largest companies in the industry, Bloomberg previously reported.
The DOJ and a group of states also recently reached a settlement with Agri Stats, a data provider to the poultry industry, which it accused of facilitating a price-fixing conspiracy between chicken suppliers.
Top photo: Eggs laid by ISA Brown chickens inside a nesting box at an egg farm in Mason, Michigan, on Monday, March 3, 2025. Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg.