The United States faces a grave egg shortage. It has already faced the case where one store in Greencastle, Pennsylvania had 100,000 eggs, worth $40,000, stolen on February 1, and the incident is under probe by the local police. A whole lorry was targeted as part of it.
One reason for the egg shortage is that a sharp price hike, attributed to the avian flu outbreak, has also occurred. Data from the government show that the prices of eggs have gone up by more than 65% over the last year. Last week, national chain Waffle House added a temporary surcharge on eggs due to an unprecedented increase in prices for eggs. The USDA has projected another 20% increase in prices this year 2025.
Avian flu, which has been in the US since 2022, saw its biggest outbreak last October and continues to impact millions of hens. This translates to around 14.7 million layer egg-laying chickens that have become a victim of flu as of January, which is higher than all cases the country has had to bear last year from 2023. Karyn Rispoli, MD for price-tracking firm Expana said, “Given the number of birds we lost recently and the hen population, there just isn’t enough production to meet the demand we have.” She added, “We have reached a point where we are in a real shortage now.”
Americans are outraged by the price of a dozen eggs. $14.99 for one dozen eggs? They know that eggs are good for you. They don’t want us to be healthy. They want us to eat their bioengineered GMO food. They’re fake lab grown meat. FF egg shortage. Don’t eat eggs and chicken… pic.twitter.com/rwzMSXENLv
— 🌴💫California Dreamer💫🌴 (@BreStoli) February 4, 2025
The shortage has resulted in panic buying, with consumers thronging stores to purchase eggs, as was the case during the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most shoppers have claimed to find bare shelves, and social media posts indicate that finding eggs in grocery stores is an uphill task, USA Today says.