Chickens may not be able to fly very far, but the price of eggs is skyrocketing.
A lingering outbreak of bird flu, combined with soaring food, fuel and labor costs, has more than doubled the price of eggs in the United States over the past year and caused many shocks in the aisles of grocery stores.
The national average price for a dozen eggs hit $3.59 in November, up from $1.72 a year earlier, according to the latest government data. This is straining consumer budgets and the bottom line of restaurants, bakeries and other food producers that rely heavily on eggs.
Grocery prices which were up 12% in November lead higher inflation, although the general rate of price increase slowed down a bit during the fall as gasoline prices fell.
But the price of eggs has risen far more than other foods — even more than chicken or turkey — because farmers’ eggs have been hit harder by avian flu. More than 43 million of the 58 million slaughtered birds Over the past year, to control the virus, laying hens have been laid, including some farms with more than a million birds each in major egg-producing states. like iowa.
Everyone who approaches the egg crate at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Omaha “has a bitter face,” shopper Nancy Stom said.
But even with rising costs, eggs are still relatively cheap compared to the price of other proteins like chicken or beef, with a pound of chicken breast averaging $4.42 in November and a pound of ground beef at $4.85, depending on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It’s still a cheap meal,” Stom said. But the 70-year-old said at these prices she would watch her eggs more closely in the fridge and try not to let them spoil before she gets used to them.
If prices stay this high, Kelly Fischer said she’ll start thinking more seriously about building a chicken coop in her Chicago backyard because everyone in her family eats eggs.
“We (along with neighbours) are planning to build a chicken coop behind our houses, so eventually I’m hoping not to buy them and have my own eggs and I think the cost comes into play a bit,” the school teacher said. 46-year-old public school. .. while shopping at HarvestTime Foods on the north side of town. “For me, it’s more of an environmental impact and trying to buy it locally.”
In some places, it can even be difficult to find eggs on the shelves. But the overall egg supply is holding up as the total flock is down only around 5% from its normal size of around 320 million hens. Farmers have been working to replace their herds as soon as they can after an outbreak.
Jakob Werner, 18, said he tries to find the cheapest eggs possible because he eats five or six a day as he tries to gain weight and build muscle.
“For a while, I just stopped eating eggs because they were getting more expensive. But since it’s my favorite dish, I eventually came back to it,” said Werner, who lives in Chicago. So I think for a few months I just stopped eating eggs, waited for the price to drop. This has never been the case. So now I buy again.
Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said he believes the bird flu epidemic is the main driver of rising prices. Unlike previous years, the virus lingered all summer and made a resurgence last fall infecting egg and poultry farms.
But she said bird flu remains a wild card that could push prices up further if there were larger outbreaks at egg farms.
The farmers are do all they can to limit the spread, but the disease is easily spread by migrating wild birds and the virus can be caught on clothing or vehicles.
“But there are some things that are out of our control,” Thompson said. “You can’t control nature sometimes.”
Food producers and restaurants are suffering because it is difficult to find a good substitute for eggs in their recipes.
Any drop in the price of eggs would be welcome at Patti Stobaugh’s two restaurants and two bakeries in Conway and Russelville, Arkansas, as all of her ingredients and supplies are more expensive these days. For some of her baked goods, Stobaugh has switched to a frozen egg product which isn’t as expensive, but she still buys eggs for all the breakfasts she serves.
A case of 15 dozen eggs has gone from $36 to $86 over the past year, but the flour, butter, chicken and whatever else she buys is also more expensive. Stobaugh said it made her “hyper vigilant about every little item.”
It has already increased its prices by 8% in the last year, and it may soon have to increase them again. It’s a delicate balance between trying not to make restaurant meals too expensive and hurting sales, but she doesn’t have much choice while trying to support her 175 employees.
“We have a lot of employees working for us and we are responsible for doing payroll every week and supporting their families. We take this very seriously. But it was definitely tough,” Stobaugh said.
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