January 25, 2023 - 7:04am | By Kyle Cornell
(Providence, RI) -- Senator Jack Reed is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to examine rapidly rising egg prices.
The Rhode Island Democrat wrote a letter to the FTC on Tuesday, demanding they investigate whether major egg retailers are using the latest outbreak of bird flu as a cover for price gouging.
Reed's letter backs a campaign to investigate Cal-Maine Foods, which controls 20-percent of the egg market.
In the midst of the flu crisis, the company reported quarterly sales up 110-percent and gross profits up over six-hundred-percent. He noted many small producers have managed to keep prices under control during the same time period.