Minnesota set to divvy up 53M eggs with other states in settlement agreement over inflated prices

The U.S. Department of Justice and 17 states, including Minnesota, announced a $3.3 million settlement agreement this week with egg producers accused of hatching a years-long scheme to inflate egg prices nationwide. 

As part of the agreement, settlement documents show, Minnesota will receive 2 million out of 53 million eggs procured at the companies’ expense to be donated to food banks and nonprofit organizations. All eggs donated by the defendants must be equivalent to products sold at grocery stores, according to settlement documents. 

The rest of the eggs will be distributed to other plaintiffs in the complaint, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin. 

Both the antitrust complaint and proposed settlements, which must still be approved by a judge, were filed Monday in Iowa. The companies did not admit to wrongdoing under terms of the settlement.

The Department of Justice accused the defendants — Cal-Maine Foods, Centrum Valley Holdings, Versova Holdings, Versova Management Cooperative and Hickman’s Egg Ranch — of conspiring to raise egg prices by collaborating on high-price bids to Urner Barry, a pricing service provider used for egg supply contracts. 

Versova Management Cooperative is a Minnesota cooperative association, a coalition to promote shared business and policy objectives, headquartered in Iowa. 

Cal-Maine denied “all wrongdoing and violations of law,” saying such claims are “baseless” in a press release. The company maintains that “its conduct was lawful, appropriate and in the best interest of supplying eggs to the marketplace” and did not interfere with egg prices. 

A spokesperson for MTQ USA, which acquired Hickman’s Egg Ranch in November 2025, said the alleged conduct predates their purchase of the company.

Centrum Valley Holdings, Versova Holdings and Versova Management Cooperative did not respond to the Reformer’s requests for comment at the time of publication. 

The DOJ conducted its investigation from July 2022 to March 2025. Investigators noted a significant drop in egg price quotations in March of 2025 after the defendants were informed of the investigation, according to the complaint. 

U.S. egg prices averaged $6.22 per dozen in March 2025 before dropping to $5.12 the next month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. By March of this year, egg prices averaged $2.34 per dozen.

The DOJ observed a direct correlation between the increase in Urner Barry’s quoted egg prices after communications between the defendants revealed attempts to flood the pricing service with high-price bids. 

One December morning in 2022, the defendants submitted dozens of bids in attempts to raise prices when all other market participants combined submitted less than six. Urner Barry increased its price quotation for white, large shell eggs the next day. 

“Corporations should be competing against one another for your business, not colluding with one another to keep prices high,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a press release. “As I travel Minnesota, I hear all the time from folks who are struggling to afford rising food prices. Unlawful and unethical behavior like this is a big part of the reason for that.”

In addition to the egg donations, the settlement agreement would require defendants to appoint antitrust compliance officers within their respective organizations to report potential settlement violations.