FTC Urged to Crack Down on Egg Industry’s ‘Organized Theft’

By

As U.S. egg producers rake in record profits amid soaring prices, a farmer-led advocacy group focused on building a just and sustainable food system on Jan. 19 implored the Federal Trade Commission to “promptly open an investigation into the egg industry, prosecute any violations of the antitrust laws it finds within, and ultimately, get the American people their money back.”

Just before testifying at an open meeting of the FTC, Farm Action sent a letter to agency chair Lina Khan detailing its “concerns over apparent price gouging, price coordination, and other unfair or deceptive acts or practices by dominant producers of eggs such as Cal-Maine Foods, Rose Acre Farms, Versova Holdings, and Hillandale Farms, among others.”

As Farm Action explained, “Egg prices more than doubled for consumers last year — going from $1.79 in December 2021 to $4.25 in December 2022 for a dozen large Grade A eggs.” Major egg producers and their allies have blamed surging prices on a “supply disruption” triggered by the deadliest outbreak of avian influenza in U.S. history, calling it “’act of God’ type stuff,” the letter notes.

Based on its analysis of publicly available industry data, however, Farm Action determined that while the avian flu outbreak killed roughly 43 million egg-laying hens nationwide in 2022, “its actual impact on the egg supply was minimal.”