Under new regulations, egg producers must keep hens in cages with no less than a square foot of available space.
Previously, cages could be less than half that size.
The policy could increase prices another 3 cents per egg at a time when the cost of a carton of eggs is already higher than average due to an avian flu outbreak.
Chelsea McGuire with the Arizona Farm Bureau said lawmakers didn’t take all costs into account.
"It was the ability to say we're going to allow the agency to lock consumers into a premium product without a public health or safety justification or scientific justification," McGuire said.
The same law will require all major egg producers to go cage free in 2025.
Other states have taken similar measures. Egg producers with fewer than 20,000 hens will be exempt.
