Cal-Maine Shares Slide Amid Reports of Expanded DOJ Antitrust Probe into Major Egg Producers

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, tumbled this week following reports that the Department of Justice is weighing an expanded antitrust crackdown on major egg producers. The scrutiny comes after egg prices surged past $6 per dozen in early 2024 before easing as flocks recovered from avian flu outbreaks.

The reported expansion of the Justice Department’s inquiry marks a significant escalation of federal scrutiny into an industry that has become a flashpoint in debates over food inflation. Cal-Maine, headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, controls roughly 20% of the U.S. shell egg market and has posted historically strong earnings during the period of elevated prices. The company’s revenue more than doubled during the worst of the 2022–2023 avian flu crisis, when tens of millions of egg-laying hens were culled to contain the spread of the H5N1 virus, tightening supply and pushing wholesale prices to record levels.

Antitrust enforcers have increasingly focused on concentration within the food production sector, where a small number of firms dominate categories such as beef, poultry, and dairy. The current probe reportedly examines whether major egg producers coordinated to restrict supply or otherwise manipulated the market during periods of scarcity. Producers have maintained that price swings reflect legitimate supply shocks from HPAI, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates has affected more than 160 million birds since early 2022, the largest animal health emergency in American history.

Market analysts will be watching for formal confirmation of any expanded investigation, as well as the DOJ’s potential coordination with state attorneys general, several of whom have launched their own probes. A formal enforcement action could take months or years to develop, but even preliminary signals have historically moved share prices across the protein sector. The outcome may also shape how the incoming administration approaches consolidation in food production — a policy area where populist concerns about corporate power have increasingly crossed partisan lines.