Minneapolis (WCCO) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Monday announced the end of a lawsuit against Minnesota-based egg producer Sparbow Farms alleging exorbitant egg prices in March and April 2020.
Under the terms of the agreement between Sparbo and the state, Sparbo will donate 90,000 dozen eggs – more than 1,000,000 eggs in total – to Minnesota non-profit organizations aimed at hunger and food insecurity throughout Minnesota.
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According to the release, Sparboo must complete its egg donation within 18 months and ensure that all eggs are of the same quality as they retail to Minnesota consumers.
Attorney General Ellison said, “During the COVID-19 crisis, I have used the authority granted to me by executive order to ensure that Minnesotans are protected from pandemic profiteering on food and other essentials.”
Under Executive Order 20-10, pricing of essential commodities such as food was illegal for the duration of the COVID-19 peacetime emergency, from March 21, 2020 until the end of the emergency by the Legislature on July 1, 2021.
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In a September 3, 2021 lawsuit against Sparbo, the attorney general’s office alleged that Sparbo tripled its egg prices in March 2020 as consumer demand for eggs skyrocketed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic .
The suit alleged that Sparbo increased its prices despite Executive Order 20-10, and that Sparbo was unable to justify the steep price increase.
According to the National Council of State Legislators, Minnesota is one of only 11 states that lacks any laws banning price-fixing.
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