More than 140,000 eggs arrived at Feeding Westchester in Elmsford this week, part of a settlement resolving accusations that three of the nation's largest egg producers conspired to drive up prices for years. The delivery, announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James, totaled 11,700 cartons of a dozen eggs destined for families across Westchester County who are struggling to afford groceries.
The eggs are part of New York's 4.968 million allotment stemming from a multistate settlement with Cal-Maine Foods, Versova/Centrum, and Hickman's Egg Ranch, three companies accused of secretly coordinating bidding strategies beginning as early as 2022 to manipulate daily egg price quotes published by Urner Barry, according to Daily Voice. Investigators say the companies submitted and then withdrew fake bids at artificially inflated prices to push that benchmark higher, a scheme detailed in a federal antitrust complaint the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general filed in June in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, according to Duane Morris.
Feeding Westchester and its network of 175 partner organizations will distribute the eggs quickly to residents facing food insecurity, per the same account from the attorney general's office. Feeding Westchester President and CEO Kristine Borok said local households are struggling with the cost of basic necessities. According to a report cited in the announcement, 41 percent of Westchester households struggle to afford food and other basic necessities, while a similar share of New York state residents overall face the same strain.
How the Alleged Scheme Worked
State investigators say the mechanics of the alleged price manipulation came down to spot-market bidding on Egg Clearinghouse Inc. A December 2022 email cited by investigators shows Hickman's CEO urging Versova and Cal-Maine executives to submit “strong bids, early and often” in order to force Urner Barry to publish higher daily wholesale benchmark price quotes, according to the New York Attorney General's office. The three producers sought to increase prices paid by retailers and consumers nationwide, and the multistate investigation was led jointly by James's office, the U.S. Department of Justice, and 16 other states.
Retail egg prices climbed as high as $6.23 per dozen nationally in March 2025, following a 70.1% year-over-year spike in January 2023, though prices dropped after the Justice Department launched its probe and ordered producers to preserve internal records, per WETM 18 News. Hoodline previously reported that egg prices spiked as high as $11 a dozen in New York during the height of bird flu-driven shortages.
Cal-Maine Denies Wrongdoing
Cal-Maine Foods, the nation's largest egg producer and owner of brands including Eggland's Best, Land O'Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, 4Grain, Sunups, and Sunny Meadow, has denied any wrongdoing. CEO Sherman Miller said in a June 30 statement that the company's conduct was lawful, noted that Cal-Maine exited the bidding cooperative in May 2024, and attributed the 2022-2025 price surges to severe avian influenza outbreaks and supply shocks, according to Michigan Farm News. That tension between prosecutors and the companies runs through the entire case: investigators allege deliberate benchmark manipulation through fake bids, while producers say the well-documented bird flu outbreaks that decimated hen populations are the real explanation for the price spikes.
Settlement Terms and Ongoing Legal Exposure
Under the proposed consent judgments, the three producers must pay a combined $3.3 million to participating states and distribute 53 million eggs to food banks and nonprofits across 17 states over an 18-month period. Hickman's Egg Ranch, Arizona's largest egg producer, agreed to cover $1 million of that cash penalty and distribute 3.25 million eggs on its own, according to 12News. California food banks are separately in line for 8.9 million eggs, or 741,666 cartons, to help address an estimated 22% of California households facing food insecurity, per the California Attorney General's office.
The producers will also have to implement compliance measures designed to prevent future coordination, including DOJ-approved antitrust compliance programs, designated compliance officers, biannual certifications submitted under penalty of perjury, and written explanations for any deleted spot-market bids over a five-year period. Even so, the civil settlement resolves government claims without any admission of guilt, and Cal-Maine and Versova still face private class action antitrust lawsuits from commercial egg buyers, including Denny's restaurant franchises, alleging the companies used avian flu as a pretext to restrict supply and inflate benchmark prices, according to Berger Montague.
Rollout Continues Across New York Through Fall
New York has already distributed more than 1.2 million eggs to food banks in Westchester, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, and the Southern Tier. Before this week's Elmsford delivery, James's office had overseen five statewide deliveries beginning August 3, including 280,000 eggs to City Harvest in Brooklyn, 280,000 to Foodlink in Rochester, 140,000 to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in Elmira, 140,000 to Central New York in Syracuse, and 280,000 to Food Bank For New York City in the Bronx. Deliveries across the state are set to continue through October.
