Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. is primarily engaged in the production and distribution of fresh shell eggs.

The company's core business, as evidenced by the articles, focuses on egg sales, acquisitions, and general financial performance. The ethical value 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' specifically evaluates activities related to lending, insuring, moving, or storing money, and how financial institutions democratize access to fair financial services. As Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. does not operate as a financial institution and does not offer lending, deposit, or other financial services to consumers, all KPIs within this value are not applicable to its business model, resulting in a score of 0 for each.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

Cal-Maine Foods reported a CEO-to-median employee pay ratio of 36:1 for Fiscal Year 2025.

As of June 2024, the company reported having no employees under collective bargaining agreements. The company's total recordable incident rate (TRIR) per 200,000 working hours decreased from 2.8 in FY2022 to 2.6 in FY2023, and it maintained a zero fatality rate across 2021, 2022, and 2023. However, the company has 27 safety-related offense records since 2000, with penalties totaling $370,217, including violations in 2023 and 2025. The company utilizes an average of 1,962 contingent workers monthly for fiscal 2024, and 4.5% of employees work part-time. The company has one wage and hour violation record from 2010 with a penalty of $99,711. Employee reviews on Indeed.com show an overall rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, which translates to approximately 68/100, with management and culture both rated 3.2 out of 5 stars (64/100).

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Cal-Maine Foods requires its contract suppliers and 100% of its processing facilities to conform to Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification requirements, which involves annual reviews and audits.

The company uses incarcerated labor at some production facilities, such as in Kansas, and while its human rights policies prohibit forced labor, they do not explicitly ban the use of prison labor. The company has a robust product identification system for tracking inputs for its finished eggs but does not disclose the level of traceability in its soy supply chain, indicating limited multi-tier visibility. For minor non-conformances identified during SQF audits, the company achieved a 100% corrective action rate, implementing all plans within the timeframe accepted by SQF auditors, which typically means within 30-45 days. The company expects suppliers to uphold high human rights standards, but its policies do not explicitly require suppliers to prohibit inhumane treatment, discrimination, child and forced labor, or to promote fair wages.

Honest & Fair Business

Cal-Maine Foods has a formal whistleblower protection policy, which includes an employee hotline and various reporting channels such as employee handbooks, a Code of Ethics, and bulletin boards.

However, the provided evidence does not include information on independent investigation processes, training frequency, or program effectiveness.

Kind to Animals

In Fiscal Year To Date 2025, specialty eggs, which include cage-free, accounted for 36% of Cal-Maine Foods' sales volume.

The company is expanding its cage-free production capacity, with plans to add approximately 1.0 million cage-free layer hens by late summer 2025 and 1.2 million free-range hens by fall 2025. This expansion involves a $60 million investment plan and recent acquisitions, including 1 million cage-free hens from ISE America.

No War, No Weapons

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. does not appear to have any defense or arms-related activities in its core business, with no evidence of revenue from arms contracts, dual-use technology development, or sales to embargoed regimes.

The company donated over $922,000 to charities, local non-profits, and community groups in FY2024. This represents approximately 0.04% of its $2.33 billion net sales, falling below the 0.5% threshold for unfocused peace/disarmament grants. The company's human rights statement, approved in July 2021, indicates a future intent to conduct a material risk assessment of human rights risks in the value chain, but no specific frequency of due diligence is reported. While the company states alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, third-party audits note major gaps in its implementation.

Planet-Friendly Business

In fiscal year 2024, the company reported Scope 1 GHG emissions of 204,586 metric tons CO2e and Scope 2 GHG emissions (market-based) of 94,603 metric tons CO2e.

While Scope 3 emissions were screened in FY2023 and categories identified, they are not yet fully quantified or published. The company does not currently purchase renewable energy as a power source. Total freshwater use was 4,727,003 cubic meters in FY2024. With FY2024 net sales of $2.3 billion, this equates to approximately 2,055 m³ per $1M revenue. The company diverted 4,999 metric tons of waste from landfills in FY2024, out of a total of 12,148 metric tons of waste to landfills, resulting in a diversion rate of approximately 29.1%. 39% of total sales were shipped on reusable plastic containers, baskets, or racks in FY2024. The company initiated a climate risks and opportunities assessment in FY2024, finalized in FY2025, in line with TCFD recommendations and IFRS S2. Climate scenario analyses were informed by IPCC projections and the NGFS scenario framework, considering an orderly transition (net-zero before 2070) and a hot house world scenario. The company lacks a science-based emission reduction target but is evaluating potential targets using SBTi FLAG guidance and plans to introduce one within the next two years. The company has been involved in multiple environmental compliance violations, including a Clean Water Act settlement in 2015 for NPDES permit violations and unauthorized discharges, resulting in a $475,000 penalty. In FY2023, the company was found liable in a 2005 pollution case related to poultry litter application, which is still being litigated. The company does not have a deforestation/conversion-free target for soy, and 100% of its soy is not sourced from deforestation-free areas. The EPA concluded that the company's Edwards facility is in an environmental justice area, but no programs addressing vulnerable communities are disclosed.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Cal-Maine Foods reported no cultural appropriation incidents.

The company does not have a specific cultural impact assessment protocol, nor does it track the percentage of affected communities participating in FPIC processes, as these are not applicable to its operations within the United States. There is no specific community representation on governance or advisory bodies. The company does not report specific cultural preservation investment, indigenous supplier counts, or actions taken to protect cultural sites. The concept of social license is not applicable to its business model, and there is no specific charitable giving focused on cultural heritage organizations. The company does not report on language inclusivity, cultural incident response frameworks, or cultural sensitivity training completion. The company provides grievance mechanisms through employee handbooks, a Code of Ethics, employee bulletin boards, and an employee hotline, but the coverage for community concerns is not specified as a percentage of operational sites.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has incurred 2-3 waste disposal violations in the past three years, specifically related to Clean Water Act violations at its Edwards, Mississippi facility.

These violations include failures in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit compliance, such as inadequate buffer practices, winter land application restrictions, exceeding agronomic rates, and failures in record-keeping, storm water sampling, and annual reporting. The company also had unauthorized discharges of cooling spray condensate mixed with manure, litter, and wastewater. A settlement with the EPA and Justice Department resulted in a $475,000 penalty for these water pollution violations. Overall, environmental-related offenses have led to $5,999,697 in penalties since 2000.