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. While the bird flu is being blamed for the price spikes, only five-percent of the country’s flocks are affected.
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