Individuals round the USA are heading to grocery shops and noticing that many egg cabinets are almost empty or empty, interval.
“You can’t get eggs anywhere, I mean anywhere,” Fox Information host Jesse Watters mentioned on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Wednesday night, Jan. 22. “I can only get the bad ones that just are not yellow and aren’t fluffy.”
In New Jersey, mentioned Watters, “you just can’t get the good, pasture-raised, nice, organic eggs.”
“So Donald Trump, before you settle the drone issue, we need eggs,” mentioned Watters. “And we need them fast.”
Eggs are certainly briefly provide and Watters’ favourite pasture-raised eggs are even more durable to seek out.
“The national egg supply has been strained due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza — also known as HPAI or bird flu — which is devastating to egg farmers,” Emily Metz, president and CEO of the Chicago-based American Egg Board, mentioned in a press release offered to Fox Information Digital.
The nonprofit group offers assets for “national category-level egg marketing,” in response to its web site.
The U.S. alone misplaced greater than 40 million laying hens to hen flu in 2024, mentioned Metz.
Whereas your complete nation is experiencing egg shortages to some extent, Metz mentioned it’s worse in states with legal guidelines requiring that grocery retailer eggs be “cage-free.”
The states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all have this laws, in response to CageFreeLaws.com, which tracks cage-free laws by state.
“Supply disruptions may be more pronounced [among] retailers and in states that exclusively sell cage-free eggs due to impacts from HPAI on cage-free farms, which were disproportionately affected late last year,” Metz instructed Fox Information Digital.
About 40% of laying hens within the U.S. are “cage-free,” she mentioned.
Of birds misplaced to hen flu, greater than half of those birds are cage-free, Metz added. “It’s important to know that bird flu does not discriminate based on farm size or housing environment. The disease is carried by wild birds,” she mentioned.
As soon as a laying hen assessments optimistic for hen flu, your complete flock is culled to stop unfold, in response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).
“When an egg farm is impacted with HPAI, it must go through multiple steps with government approvals before it can repopulate new flocks, a necessary process that can take six months to a year,” additional including to the provision points, Metz mentioned.
Egg manufacturing, she mentioned, is “both complex and time sensitive,” she mentioned.
“What we know right now is that our system is strained — and HPAI remains a clear and present risk to poultry flocks,” Metz mentioned.
“The volume of eggs sold at retail has been up year-over-year for 22 consecutive months, and we’re just coming out of the highest demand season of the year — the winter holidays — when egg sales increase significantly due to holiday baking and entertaining,” Metz mentioned.
Additionally impacting the U.S. egg provide is elevated demand.
Regardless of these challenges, Metz mentioned there may be motive to be longing for the long run.
“The good news is that egg farmers have a lot of experience working together to move eggs across the country to where they’re needed most — and that’s exactly what they’re doing now,” she mentioned.
“Keeping their birds safe and healthy is every egg farmer’s top priority, and they are working around the clock to protect their birds, replenish supply and keep those eggs coming.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Costco for remark, the place prospects have observed current egg shortages. Many native grocery shops throughout the nation even have seen provides shrink and costs rise.
