The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated an investigation into a possible collusion among the country’s biggest egg producers to keep prices high amidst the current bird flu outbreak. This has caused grocery stores to put limits on how many eggs customers can buy in a single visit. According to sources close to the investigation, the probe is focused on major egg producers, including Cal-Maine and Rose Acre Farms.
Since the start of the current avian influenza outbreak in 2022, more than 160 million birds have tragically died or been killed, sometimes with horrific methods, such as ventilation shutdown. The impact on egg-laying hens has been especially devastating, leading to a considerable jump in egg prices. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January 2025, the average cost for a dozen large, grade-A eggs hit $4.95 — a record high.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a $1 billion initiative to curb the spread of the virus and lower egg prices. The plan involves looking into increasing egg imports to boost the national supply and stabilise prices. Various organisations have called for a thorough investigation into the practices of egg producers. One of these is the anti-monopoly group Farm Action, which claims that these companies are exploiting the escalating virus to inflate prices unfairly. Cal-Maine and other egg producers were ordered to pay $53 million in 2020 after being found liable for price-fixing in a federal lawsuit.
In February 2025, Federal Trade Commissioner Alvar Bedoya urged FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson to examine the pricing strategies within the egg industry to help with the cost-of-living burden. He said on X, “There’s a person in the government who could flick his pen and start an investigation into what the hell is going on with eggs. His name is Andrew Ferguson. He’s the new head of the @FTC. Has he done it? No. Isn’t this just avian flu?” If that were the case, you’d expect egg production to have collapsed. But production appears to be only modestly down from before the pandemic in 2021.”
The animal agriculture industry is based on harming sentient beings for profit, so it is not surprising that it is trying to profit more when natural disasters cause animal diseases (although animal farming may have substantially contributed to the spread of such diseases).
Take the Vegan Pledge: https://drove.com/.2A4o
