DeLauro, 32 Lawmakers in Letter to Largest Egg Company in the US: “Americans are suffering, and your company has the power to make a difference”

Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) led 32 House Democratic lawmakers in a letter to Cal-Maine Foods, the largest producer and distributor of shell eggs in the United States, demanding an explanation for the rise in eggs prices amid record profits for the giant corporation.

"We write to you to request an explanation as to why Americans, living paycheck to paycheck, are paying record prices for eggs while Cal-Maine Foods reported that its gross profits jumped from $45.433 million to 186.436 million from Q1 to Q4 of last year, a 310 percent increase,” the lawmakers wrote. “Cal-Maine’s Q1 and Q2 of FY25 have continued a similar trajectory, reporting $247.20 million and $356.042 million in gross profits, respectively.”

Just last week, Cal-Maine announced quarterly profits of $509 million, more than three times what it made in the same period a year ago. Cal-Maine has cited the avian flu outbreak as the reason its egg prices have soared, which resulted in the loss of over 2 million chickens and hens. However, according to Cal-Maine’s own records, these losses have been repopulated. Moreover, during the 2015 avian flu outbreak, the national flock numbers and egg prices largely recovered within eight months, yet now, flock and price 

“From an outside observer, it seems that Cal-Maine has refused to ramp up egg production despite capacity to do so while being able to take advantage of elevated prices and increasing their profits” the lawmakers concluded. “The concern felt by many hardworking Americans is that Cal-Maine is price gouging those struggling to afford staple foods.”

You can read the full letter here.