The avian flu outbreaks across the US continue. Rarely does a day go by that some new angle on the story doesn’t surface in the mainstream or food industry news. But it’s affect on consumer egg prices that is what’s catching the average shopper’s eye…
‘Cage-free’ chickens, now mandated in at least 9 states, are not quite as ‘free’ as their
‘free range’ counterparts (above). But much less-restricted than conventional,
caged ‘egg producing machines ‘ that were, until recently, common…
Here’s a silly question: “Have you nop0tived how the cost of egg across the US has soared in the past couple of months, since the avian flu crisis struck?” Who could fail to have ‘noticed’.
Twice the Canadian price?
In fact. a recent unofficial survey of egg prices at a cross-section of US grocery stores has revealed that retail egg prices have spiked alarmingly compared to the current retail price in Canada. Canadian shoppers will be aware that their retail egg prices have been little affected by the crisis below the border – averaging a relatively steady (C)$3.00 and $3.50 a dozen ((US)$2.25) for ‘standard’ Grade A Large specimens.
But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of a dozen Grade A Large eggs in the US reached (US)$4.15 in December — a staggering rise of nearly 37 per cent over the past year, as mea-sured by the Consumer Price Index.
There are a number of reasons for this. Canada is a net exporter of eggs. And we provide our own laying hens, as well, via a well-established hatchery industry. There is officially, no avian flu crisis here. And that may be because animal health officials are keeping a strict eye on the situation, ready to move of even if the slightest indication of infection is detected.
Not just the flu…
There are additional factors in play, driving US egg prices up…
A number of key egg-producing states have enacted anti-cruelty, cage-free poultry-housing over the past year. That’s not the same as free-ranging. But at least the laying hens are restricted 24 hours a day to small wire cages designed to catch and transport their ‘produce’ safely to cleaning and pack-aging facilities.
Nine states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, have enacted, “cage-free laws banning the sale of eggs from confined hens, a prac-tice that has long been widespread in the United States and around the world.”
And this change, alone, has cost producers millions to implement.
My take
It will take some time – plus an effective solution to the avian flu crisis – to bring US egg prices down again. Until then, Americans should be prepared for retail egg prices to remain high, and perhaps rise even higher, before they get any relief. In short, the US is not even near ‘the end of the beginning’ with egg prices, yet. Much less ‘the beginning of the end’…
~ Maggie J.