Lifestyle
Three Egg Producers Will Pay $3.3 Million and Donate 53 Million Eggs Over Price‑Fixing
By Erica Coleman · July 1, 2026
Remember when eggs cost $5 a dozen? The federal government says it wasn’t just bird flu. Three of the country’s largest egg producers were allegedly rigging prices behind the scenes — and they just agreed to pay for it.
The Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general announced Monday that Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch have agreed to settle civil allegations that they secretly coordinated for nearly three years to artificially inflate the daily price of eggs paid by grocery stores, restaurants, and consumers. The settlement includes $3.3 million in financial penalties and the donation of approximately 53 million eggs to food banks and nonprofits nationwide.
The alleged scheme ran from June 2022 through March 2025 — a period that includes the most dramatic egg price spike in American history. In February 2023, the average retail price for a dozen large Grade A eggs had surged 150% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Prosecutors allege that the three companies secretly communicated about what bids they would submit to Urner Barry Publications, which runs a pricing index widely used as the benchmark for egg contracts across the industry. When the companies coordinated their bids to Urner Barry, the benchmark price rose. When the benchmark rose, grocery stores and restaurants raised their prices to consumers. The manipulation rippled through the entire supply chain — from producer bid to your grocery receipt.
One detail in the complaint stands out. Price quotations “dropped significantly” after the companies learned of the DOJ’s investigation and were instructed to preserve documents in March 2025. Consumer egg prices later fell to under $2.20 per dozen by May 2026. The timeline suggests that the investigation itself — and the companies’ awareness of it — may have done more to lower prices than the settlement.
Cal-Maine denied wrongdoing and called the allegations “baseless.” Versova and Hickman’s did not admit liability.
New York Attorney General Letitia James led the 17-state coalition. The other states include California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, and Iowa — covering the vast majority of the American egg market.
The $3.3 million penalty is small relative to the industry’s revenue. The 53 million donated eggs are a more visible form of accountability. For consumers who spent two years paying record prices for a grocery staple — prices the government now says were artificially inflated — the settlement is a conclusion if not a full reckoning.