If you’re an egg-lover like me, you may have noticed an increase in egg prices lately. Egg prices have increased by 60% since last year, that’s right, you read that correctly. Last year, a dozen of eggs were $2.95 however today the average price stands at $4.95, some stores even going as high as $10. The avian influenza pandemic continues to cause a nationwide egg shortage, killing 31 million egg-laying hens in just the first two months of the year. Avian influenza, also known as the bird flu, is a virus that infects and kills domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys. It is spread through the contact of contaminated surfaces, saliva, nasal discharge, and feces.
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump blamed the Biden Administration for inflation and promised to lower the price of eggs. Additionally, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced in a recent hearing that solving this animal disease outbreak was a prominent concern. As the bird flu becomes more widespread, United Egg Producers urge Trump and Congress to increase funding for developing vaccines. However, Chad Hart— an economics professor at Iowa State University— shares his belief that vaccines will not completely solve the problem due to the costs of vaccinating over 300 million birds and the ever-changing nature of the virus. This theory is supported by the U.S Department of Agriculture as there are no viable vaccines at the moment. Instead, quarantine zones are established around the infected farms as an attempt to contain the virus.
In the midst of this bird flu pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Pandemic state that when cooked to the appropriate temperature, eggs are still safe to consume. Students and teachers have shared insight into how the increase in egg prices affected their lives, stating “they’re too high”, “we have to buy half the amount of eggs now”, and critiquing tariffs because they “don’t help with the egg prices due to the bird flu”. Although egg prices show some signs of decreasing (dropping from a record-high of $8.17 to $4.90), it will be some time before we see them return to normal prices.