The Department of Justice’s scrutiny of egg pricing has blown up into one of the most aggressive federal antitrust initiatives in the agricultural sector in decades.
Since November 2025, following orders from the White House, the DOJ has been investigating the egg, beef, pork, and poultry industries, assessing market consolidation, price coordination, and benchmarking practices across the food supply chain.
DOJ Investigations Spark Egg Class Actions
In late 2025, multiple nationwide class actions hit major egg producers alleging coordinated manipulation of output and pricing benchmarks. Plaintiffs explicitly cite the DOJ investigation as the factual basis for their claims, a familiar pattern where government probes catalyze private litigation.
The complaints allege that producers shared competitively sensitive information and used benchmark pricing mechanisms to stabilize prices—even as production conditions normalized following earlier supply shocks.
Most readers will remember that the price of eggs was cast into the national spotlight by then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election, which broadened into vociferous arguments over which political party was to blame and which candidate would better address the country’s more general “affordability” crisis – and even whether that was hoax exploited by Democrats to win votes.
What drove egg prices up and down?
During the past two years the U.S. egg market has faced extreme volatility due to recurring outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). According to USDA reports, more than 160 million birds have been culled since 2022, with table-egg-laying hens making up most of the losses. This supply shock drove retail prices to historic highs, peaking at $5.90 per dozen in February 2025 and exceeding $6.00 in some regions, compared to about $3.00 a year earlier, as reported by the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wholesale prices briefly surpassed $7.00 per dozen during the crisis.
By late 2025, rapid flock rebuilding and supplemental imports stabilized inventories, causing prices to plunge. As of January 2026, the USDA reports that wholesale prices have dropped to around $0.45 per dozen, the lowest since 2019. While this reflects a return to pre-crisis levels, the persistent threat of avian flu remains a critical risk factor for the market. The 2025 price surge also sparked discussions about protein accessibility, as many households turned to alternatives like tofu and canned tuna, though eggs remain a public health priority for their high bioavailability and essential nutrients, according to the USDA and BLS.
Why is the meat industry being investigated?
In November, President Trump directed the DOJ to investigate major meatpacking companies for alleged price fixing and manipulation, focusing on the Big Four processors—JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, and National Beef—which together control roughly 85% of U.S. beef processing and exert substantial influence over pork and poultry markets.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the investigation is being conducted jointly with the Agriculture Department, signaling a whole-of-government approach to food affordability and competition. Federal officials have pointed to a widening disconnect between falling or stagnant livestock prices paid to producers on one hand and rising consumer prices for meat products on the other.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, DOJ is examining whether packers used capacity controls, coordinated purchasing practices, or shared market intelligence to inflate margins downstream while suppressing upstream competition.
Reuters and Politico have separately reported that DOJ enforcers are assessing whether drought-related justifications have masked unlawful coordination as was alleged in earlier poultry industry cases.
Poultry producers also face renewed exposure from the DOJ’s case against Agri Stats, a data aggregation firm accused of facilitating unlawful information sharing across meat processors. DOJ officials have expressly warned that third-party benchmarking tools can violate antitrust law when they reduce or replace independent decision-making. Because many beef, pork, and poultry processors rely on overlapping benchmarking services, the investigations may broaden beyond beef products alone.
Are all meat prices increasing?
U.S. meat prices have diverged sharply by category recently. Beef has surged to record highs, driven by structural supply constraints as the national cattle herd fell to its smallest size since 1951—about 86.7 million head in early 2025—after years of drought and high input costs, according to the USDA. Retail beef prices jumped nearly 20% from late 2023 to late 2025, with ground beef averaging $6.63 per pound in August 2025 and climbing toward $7.19 by November, compared to roughly $5.20 two years earlier.
By contrast, pork and poultry have remained relatively stable, offering consumers a “relief valve” from high beef costs. Pork prices rose only about 0.8% year-over-year, holding near $3.78 per pound in late 2025, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data and YCharts. Poultry prices flattened after early volatility, with USDA projecting just 1.9% growth through 2026, supported by heavier bird weights and increased production. Analysts expect beef prices to stay elevated because rebuilding the herd is a multi-year process, prompting households to shift toward chicken and pork for budget-friendly, high-quality protein, say Midan Marketing and AgAmerica Lending.
Recent U.S. trade policy changes have significantly impacted the meat industry, especially beef. In early 2025, the U.S. imposed tariffs on imported meat, while key export markets retaliated, disrupting supply chains and raising costs for imported beef trim, as reported by AgAmerica. These measures, combined with multi-year droughts, pushed domestic cattle prices to record highs. Although the U.S. lifted a 40% tariff on Brazilian beef and eased restrictions on other exporters in late 2025 to curb consumer costs, according to Winsight Grocery Business, quota limits and a USDA ban on live cattle imports from Mexico due to a New World Screwworm outbreak continue to tighten feeder cattle supply, keeping beef prices elevated, the USDA reported.
Pork and poultry have faced less severe impacts but still felt ripple effects. Tariff retaliation slowed pork exports, while poultry producers absorbed indirect cost increases from tariffs on feed and packaging, as reported by the USDA Economic Research Service. As a result, beef remains historically expensive, with USDA projecting steer prices to average over $220/cwt in 2026, while pork and poultry offer consumers more affordable alternatives, say the USDA and Midan Marketing. AgAmerica reports that these policy shifts have accelerated sourcing adjustments and reinforced consumer trends toward budget-friendly proteins like chicken and pork.
What comes next with food supply and pricing investigations?
The egg and meat investigations reflect a focus on structural antitrust enforcement in agriculture—viewing consolidation itself as a source of pricing power rather than requiring explicit cartel behavior.
- Will we see civil or criminal enforcement actions and additional private class actions?
- Given DOJ’s new incentive program, will antitrust whistleblowers come forward?
- How might our erratic trade policies impact these markets?
Whatever the answers may be, food producers and processors should be on alert: antitrust enforcers are closely examining their respective market shares, data sharing practices, and pricing methods. Smaller competitors and purchasers will need to decide whether – as others have done – initiate private litigation to protect their businesses.
