The company's size is largely due to its
acquisition of at least 25 other egg-producing businesses over the years. In 2018, an investigation at Lake Wales Farm by the animal rights group Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) indicated that chickens suffered inhumane living conditions and abuse by employees. After further investigation by the Polk County sheriff's department and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it was found that the farm had followed
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) protocols for euthanizing poultry. No confirmation of abuse was found. According to the
San Francisco Chronicle, in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, in the spring of 2020, Cal-Maine increased egg prices over 300%, from $1 to $3.44 per dozen. This triggered at least one lawsuit challenging the price jump as unjustified, since there had not been an actual supply chain interruption. The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2020. Early in the morning of December17, 2020, a fire destroyed two barns at Cal-Maine's
Dade City, Florida facilities. The fire killed over 240,000
chickens, including 120,000 pullets; the financial loss was estimated to be over $1 million. In 2021, Cal-Maine moved its headquarters from
Jackson, Mississippi to Ridgeland, Mississippi. In November 2023, the company was found liable in a lawsuit alleging that it
colluded, along with
Rose Acre Farms,
United Egg Producers, and United States Egg Marketers, to reduce the supply of eggs and
increase prices between 2004 and 2008. The plaintiffs in the case, a group of large food manufacturers led by
Kraft Foods, originally filed the long-running lawsuit in 2011, but it did not reach trial until October 2023. In March 2024, Cal-Maine acquired a
broiler processing plant, hatchery and feed mill in
Dexter, Missouri from the American multinational food processing corporation,
Tyson Foods for an undisclosed amount. In June 2024, a group of
poultry farmers filed a lawsuit against Cal-Maine and Tyson Foods, alleging that the companies had conspired to prevent a competing meatpacking company from purchasing the Dexter facility in violation of Missouri's
antitrust laws. Cal-Maine Foods received $44.8 million in taxpayer funded USDA Indemnity payments for exterminating flocks due to
avian influenza. The birds were killed using the controversial killing method known as
ventilation shutdown plus. In 2025,
watchdog journalism complained to the US federal government that Cal-Maine and other large egg producers might be engaged in profiteering and collusion from the
bird flu outbreak at the expense of small farmers, which caused a national egg shortage and drove up the
commodity price of eggs. ==Principal subsidiaries==