A PYMNTS Company

Egg Price-Fixing Allegations Spark Fresh Round of Federal Lawsuits

By  |  November 19, 2025

Major American egg producers are confronting a rising tide of class action lawsuits that accuse them of coordinating to inflate egg prices, according to Reuters. The litigation comes as shoppers and businesses remain frustrated over elevated food costs after several years of inflation.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    The first in this recent series of cases was filed Nov. 6 in federal court in Indiana, per Reuters. That complaint alleges that leading producers violated U.S. antitrust laws and forced retailers and other large buyers to pay artificially high prices for eggs. Additional lawsuits were submitted in federal courts in Wisconsin and Illinois on Friday and Monday by groups of consumers and restaurants, according to Reuters.

    Each of the new cases names Cal-Maine Foods, Rose Acre Farms and several other producers as defendants. Data analytics and consulting firm Urner Barry is also targeted in some filings. The suits assert that the companies coordinated pricing through Urner Barry’s benchmark assessments and a private trading platform. Plaintiffs further claim that producers used the avian flu outbreak that began in late 2021 as justification for higher prices despite relatively limited reductions in flock sizes and declining feed and fuel costs.

    Related: Major US Egg Companies Face Class Action Over Alleged Price-Fixing

    According to Reuters, the alleged price-fixing scheme spanned from 2022 until March 2025, when news emerged that the U.S. Justice Department had launched an investigation into the industry. Following the announcement of the probe, egg prices began to fall. Cal-Maine Foods, headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi and recognized as the nation’s largest egg producer, has stated that it is cooperating with federal investigators.

    The latest complaints seek class action certification on behalf of millions of commercial purchasers and individual consumers. They echo earlier litigation from the 2000s that accused Cal-Maine and other producers of orchestrating a similar price-fixing conspiracy.

    One lawsuit connected to those older claims resulted in a significant verdict in 2023, when a jury awarded Kraft, General Mills, Kellogg and Nestlé $17.7 million in damages for alleged overcharges during a four-year period in the mid-2000s.

    Source: Reuters