Justice Department reportedly to launch anti-trust investigation into high egg prices

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly opened an anti-trust investigation to determine whether big egg producers have colluded to raise prices or diminish supplies of eggs, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

While the egg industry and many media outlets attribute the escalating cost of eggs only to avian flu, the WSJ report observes that Cal-Maine Foods, a large and publicly-traded egg company, “has reported rising profits from the rise in egg prices and saw its stock surge in the years since the bird flu outbreak.”

“The shares have gained about 50% over the past 12 months,” WSJ reported.

As of the time of publication, the DOJ website does not appear to have published a press release on the subject of an investigation into a potential conspiracy to keep egg prices high or supplies low.

WSJ, however, citing sources, reports the probe is “in its early stages.”

“The department sent a letter to some egg companies that instructed them to preserve documents about their pricing conversations with customers and competitors, as well as communications with Urner Barry—which is now called Expana and tracks wholesale egg-price information, some of the people familiar with the matter said,” according to the report. “The letter also signaled the department was interested in company communications about egg production and bird flu.”

Additionally, WSJ noted it is unclear whether the investigation is being overseen by civil or criminal authorities and that a DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment.

United Egg Producers – a trade organization for the egg industry – reportedly told WSJ that farmers are “doing everything they can to fight back against this deadly bird flu outbreak.”

Other groups fighting against corporate agriculture, however, argue that large producers have failed to use the kind of biosecurity protocols that could have limited the culling, since 2022, of over a 150 million US chickens and turkeys – some of which may not have been sick from the virus.

During an interview last week on Salem News Channel’s “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Kirk asked Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins to explain why eggs are so expensive.

“[T]he avian bird flu, which is a virus that these chickens have gotten, is a huge reason the Biden team basically depopulated about 150 million egg-laying hens last year – which is the protocol,” she acknowledged. “We’re looking at the protocol now to see how to tweak it so that hopefully we don’t do that moving forward.”

“We rolled out a five-point plan about a week ago,” she continued. It “includes deregulation, includes repopulation much more quickly, includes importing eggs from other countries for the short term, and then for the long term, figuring out how to solve for these viruses that are basically annihilating significant populations in our poultry industry.”

Rollins visited Cal-Maine during a tour of poultry farms, after which she launched a plan that invests up to $500 million in poultry farms that use “gold-standard biosecurity measures” to prevent contamination with the avian flu virus.

One farm in Texas, she explained, uses a protocol whereby “vehicles are hosed down before entering the property; workers must wear protective gear and shower before entering and on leaving.”

The Trump administration’s plan also includes up to $400 million of increased financial relief to farmers who cull their flocks and up to $100 million for vaccine and therapeutics research and development.

Other groups that challenge big factory farms and promote animal welfare argue the government needs to ensure both greater biosecurity and less incentivized culling of flocks with financial bailouts.

Animal welfare organization Our Honor – which supports like-minded veterinarians – has been critical of the USDA protocol of bailing out big poultry and egg producers for culling flocks.

“Follow the money,” Our Honor posted to X last week, along with a USDA chart of the top 12 companies that received these indemnity payments. The list includes large producers such as Jennie-O Turkey Store ($47 million), Cal-Maine Foods ($44 million), Hillandale Farms of Ohio ($33 million), Forsman Farms ($22 million), and Central Valley Eggs ($10 million).

In another post, Our Honor cited the work of veterinarian Dr. Crystal Heath, who reportedly found a lack of biosecurity practices on big factory farms – even during avian flu outbreaks.

Heath, the organization wrote, “saw unprotected workers handling dead animals without masks or goggles—despite the virus’s risks to human health. No warnings, no transparency, just the same old ‘Don’t worry.’”

Farm Action, a farmer advocacy group fighting the corporatization of agriculture, has conducted its own investigation, finding that “avian flu does not justify skyrocketing egg prices.” 

The reason behind the high prices is “corporate greed, plain and simple,” Farm Action posted to X in mid-February, adding it wrote to both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the DOJ, urging both to open investigations into the high price of eggs.

“Notably, flock numbers recovered within eight months during the 2015 avian flu outbreak, but recovery has still not been achieved since the start of the 2022 outbreak,” Farm Action observed in a post on X. 

“Consolidation in the breeder supply chain is on the rise,” the group added. “Just two private European corporations now control 90% of the world’s egg-layer hens, and Cal-Maine controls its own breeder flock. As a result, the number of chicken hatcheries is taking a nosedive, impeding the ability of new competitors to enter the market and increase supply to help stabilize prices.”