North Carolina’s Food Banks Have Received All of the 3M Eggs After Attorney General Jackson’s Antitrust Enforcement Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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RALEIGH - Nearly 150,000 eggs were delivered to MANNA FoodBank in Henderson County, marking the final delivery of nearly three million eggs brought to North Carolina as part of Attorney General Jeff Jackson's settlement with three of the nation's largest egg producers. The final egg delivery comes two years after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina and will help provide food to people in need across 16 counties in the region.

"Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene, communities across Western North Carolina are still rebuilding," said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. "I'm glad these millions of eggs have gone to our neighbors in western North Carolina and throughout the state who need it most. This is also a warning to companies that try to game the system to make a profit: We won't let you."

"Eggs are a great source of fresh protein and one of the most requested items from our neighbors," said Claire Neal, CEO of MANNA FoodBank. "We appreciate the work of Attorney General Jeff Jackson and his office to reach a settlement with egg producers that included the donation of eggs to MANNA and other North Carolina food banks. These eggs will greatly benefit our food insecure neighbors at a time of growing need."

The North Carolina Department of Justice partnered with Feeding the Carolinas to distribute three million eggs to food banks across the state. Previous deliveries included nearly 300,000 eggs to the Food Bank of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, as well as deliveries to food banks in Raleigh and Winston-Salem.

The egg deliveries are part of a settlement reached in July by Attorney General Jackson, 16 other bipartisan attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice with Cal-Maine, Hickman's Family Farms and Versova. The settlement resolves allegations that the three companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by working together from 2022 to 2025 to share information and coordinate bidding to manipulate a key industry benchmark and artificially raise egg prices.

In addition to providing about 50 million eggs to food banks across the United States, the settlement requires the companies to stop their illegal coordination to manipulate price benchmarks, adopt compliance measures to prevent future violations and cooperate with oversight by the states and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Attorney General Jackson was joined in reaching the settlement by the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.

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