He added that the sheer size of typical US commercial egg-laying farms, with over a million laying hens, plays a role in the extensive amount of time it takes to control a bird flu outbreak.
“I expect it will take several minutes for the egg shortage to be addressed and for egg prices to lower,” he said.
Then, prices more than doubled until they hit a record high of $4.82 in January 2023.
Eggs in Hawaii cost nearly $10, with an average cost per dozen of $9.73.
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RAMPANT DISEASE
While the pandemic and general inflation have played a role in the soaring cost of eggs, the largest factor at play is an outbreak of bird flu.
“Eggflation” has consumers paying increasingly high prices for the kitchen staple.
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Egg prices have dropped since then but rose again in August last year due to hen losses and low supply.
Some US states are dishing out absurd amounts of money for the kitchen staple due to “eggflation.”
On average, Floridians are paying the second highest price for eggs at $6.36 per dozen.
The cost of a dozen eggs rose nearly 38% from fall 2023 to fall 2024, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The saddest part is that the virus is still spreading essentially uncontrolled and unabated in poultry, dairy cattle, and wildlife even after all the previous deaths, culling, quarantines, and expenses,” said the expert.
“There is no surprise that there is an egg shortage and subsequent high egg prices,” said the expert. “There is simply a mismatch between supply and demand, causing a rise in prices.”
Eggs on average cost consumers below $2 per dozen from March 2016 to the beginning of 2022.
To dive further into the bird flu outbreak and subsequent egg crisis, The U.S. Sun spoke exclusively with Dr. Jim Keen, director of veterinary sciences for the Center for a Humane Economy and former research scientist with the USDA.
AS the highly infectious and deadly bird flu ravages poultry populations in the US, egg prices are climbing.
Source: World Population Review
H5N1, a specific strain of bird flu, began infecting US poultry populations in February 2022, with the ability to decimate entire flocks within just 48 hours.
The expert shared that to date, the USDA has spent around $1.7 billion in an attempt to control the bird flu outbreak in poultry, making it the “most expensive animal disease outbreak in US history.”
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