Egg producers accused of price gouging in suits

With Americans cooking much more at home, demand has grown for eggs, but it will cost you.

The tripling in price of a dozen regular eggs in many parts of the country — to an excess of $3 — has prompted various lawsuits aimed at egg producers and sellers.

The Texas attorney general and a group of private individuals in California filed suit separately in late April against the largest egg producer in the United States for what they call excessive, unfair and illegal profits during the coronavirus pandemic.

“As in any time of economic turmoil, there are those who seek to profit from the misery of millions,” read the complaint in the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

It all goes back to March, as the pandemic gathered force and shoppers stampeded down supermarket aisles, stripping them of goods deemed essential, including toilet paper, hand sanitizer and, yes, eggs.

The average wholesale price for Grade A large eggs surged from $1.01 to $3.07 per dozen in March, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The complaint, filed by Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, accused the nation’s largest egg producer, Cal-Maine Foods, headquartered in Jackson, Miss., of inflating egg prices 300%, calling the increase “exorbitant, excessive and unjustified.”

On average, Americans consume about 293 eggs per year, according to the USDA. Californians eat an average 300 per person. With a population of 40 million people, that works out to roughly 1 billion eggs per month.

It is not yet clear, however, whether the courts will accept the cases, especially in California, where the possible number of consumers affected is unusually large.

The company strongly denied the allegations in both lawsuits. “Cal-Maine has not exploited this tragic national pandemic for gain,” it said in a statement, contending, that it bought eggs on the open market to meet orders during peak demand period.