One egg, two eggs, 3.4 million eggs.
As part of a multistate settlement against several companies, Pennsylvania will get eggs – and a lot of them.
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The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday that some of the nation’s largest egg producers will deliver approximately 3.4 million eggs to Pennsylvania food banks and community organizations as part of a multistate settlement addressing an illegal price-manipulation scheme.
The settlement ends a national investigation by nearly 20 states and the U.S. Department of Justice into artificially inflated egg prices.
The probe found that Cal-Maine Foods, Versova/Centrum, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch coordinated for years to influence a daily price index, which drove up costs for retailers and consumers across the country, the attorney general’s office said.
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Pennsylvania will receive 288,075 dozen eggs from the agreement.
Nationally, the producers will distribute roughly 53 million eggs at their own expense to nonprofit organizations and food banks within the participating states.
As part of the deal, the companies will also pay a combined $3.3 million to the states.
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“As Pennsylvania families continue to feel the impact of rising food costs, businesses should compete fairly — not conspire to drive prices higher,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said. “This settlement holds these companies accountable for manipulating egg prices and delivers a direct benefit to Pennsylvanians through millions of eggs that will help feed families in need across the Commonwealth.”
Credit: PA Internet News Service
Investigators found that from roughly June 2022 to March 2025, the producers secretly communicated to coordinate bidding activity.
The goal was to influence the daily egg price published by Urner Barry, a benchmark pricing service used in egg supply contracts, investigators said.
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According to the attorney general’s office, the CEO of Hickman’s emailed executives at Versova and Cal-Maine in December 2022, urging them to submit “strong bids, early and often” to push prices higher.
After the exchange, all three companies submitted dozens of higher-priced bids, forcing Urner Barry to increase its price quotes and artificially inflating market costs, per a statement.
“These egg producers manipulated the market to squeeze even more profit out of consumers and businesses,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “By shutting this scheme down and delivering millions of eggs to those in need, we’re sending a clear message that companies will not get away with illegal price hikes.”
As part of the settlement, the companies must end their coordinated bidding, implement compliance measures to prevent future antitrust violations, and cooperate with government oversight.
Each producer is required to appoint an antitrust compliance officer to monitor operations and report any future violations to state and federal authorities.
All donated eggs as part of the settlement must meet federal and state food safety and regulatory standards.
The bipartisan coalition of attorneys general joining Sunday and the U.S. Department of Justice includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
