Kraft, Kellogg Go After Egg Producers for Price-Fixing Scheme

Major US food companies go to trial this week over antitrust claims that egg producers Cal-Maine Foods Inc. and Rose Acre Farms Inc. conspired to inflate the price of eggs, the third attempt to prove the businesses violated antitrust laws.

The plaintiffs—a Kraft Heinz Co. unit,Kellogg Co., General Mills Inc., and Nestle USA Inc.—say egg producers controlled supply and artificially increased prices starting in the late 1990s through at least 2008, leading to higher costs for egg products used in food staples such as cake mix, cereal, and waffles. The argument jibes with recent regulatory and ...