AG Reaches Settlement in Egg Price Gouging Lawsuit

ST. PAUL -- A central Minnesota egg producer has agreed to donate more than one million eggs in a price-gouging settlement.

The Minnesota Attorney General's office announced the lawsuit agreement Monday with Sparboe Farms of Litchfield. The excessive price gouging is alleged to have taken place in March and April of 2020.

Sparboe will donate 90,000 dozen eggs to Minnesota nonprofit organizations, which it must complete within 18 months. The eggs have to be the same quality as the eggs it sells at retail.

Under an Executive Order, price gouging on essential items like food was illegal during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency. Sparboe was unable to point to increased costs that would have justified the massive price increases.