New research suggests corporations are using bird flu as an excuse to jack up prices — and their profits rose before the disease even reached their flocks, the Guardian reported Tuesday.

The cost of a dozen large eggs reached a record high of almost $5 in January. Bird flu has certainly contributed to rising prices; about 12.7 million birds are affected by the disease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 166 million poultry have been culled since 2022. But bird flu is not the only reason for skyrocketing prices.

“Bird flu does not fully explain the sticker shock consumers experience in the egg aisle … corporate consolidation is a key culprit behind egg price spikes,” Amanda Starbuck told the Guardian. She is the lead author on a new report from Food and Water Watch.

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“Powerful corporations that control every step of the supply chain – from breeding hens to hatching eggs to processing and distributing eggs – are making windfall profits off this crisis, raising their prices above and beyond what is necessary to cover any rising costs,” she added.

“The egg production industry – like the retailer sector that producers mostly sell to – is highly concentrated," writes the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani. "This gives a handful of big corporations the opportunity to influence prices outside the impact of shocks like avian flu and the Covid 19 pandemic on supply and demand."

Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the U.S., saw gross profits increase by 7 between 2021 and 2023, shooting up to 1.2 billion. During this time, their flocks had not been hit by bird flu and their sales only increased by a small amount. They “issued shareholder dividends totaling $250m in fiscal year 2023 — 40 times more than the previous fiscal year. The Mississippi-based company sold 7% more eggs in 2024 compared to 2021 and tripled its profits over the same period, according to company filings,” Lakhani writes.

In some geographic areas, prices went up before bird flu reached them as well. For example, in the South, prices followed national increases, even though egg production rose and bird flu didn’t reach flocks until January.

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There were more eggs, but higher prices, in 2023. “Between April and December 2023, national retail inventories of eggs each month exceeded the five-year average by as much as almost 13%. Yet the average egg price for consumers was higher than the five-year average each month,” Lakhani writes.

According to a study from the University of Arkansas, bird flu accounts for a 12-24 percent increase in prices.

Angela Huffman, co-founder of the nonpartisan group Farm Action, thinks the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice should investigate egg prices. “Based on publicly available data, we’ve observed that egg price increases far exceed what would be expected based on hen losses and the industry has not increased the number of laying hens as expected during a period of high prices. This strongly suggests potential antitrust violations,” she said. “The FTC and DOJ have the authority to investigate beyond what is publicly available… we urge them to exercise this authority.”

“The working class is struggling to afford groceries while companies like Cal-Maine are raking in huge profits and rewarding their shareholders,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told the Guardian. “The Trump administration has the power to lower grocery bills, but instead they are imposing blanket tariffs on allies, firing federal workers who are trying to prevent the bird flu, and putting billionaires over ordinary Americans.”

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Meanwhile, the conditions at factory farms are ideal for the flu to spread. “These same companies exacerbate the bird flu outbreak by raising their birds on factory farms, crammed together in hundreds of thousands or millions, creating the perfect breeding ground for disease,” Starbuck said.