The price of eggs has increased more than any other consumer good in the last year.
Americans celebrate the country’s biggest holiday, Thanksgiving Day, on Thursday and will spend more money at the table because the price of eggs, the basis of a wide variety of recipes, has increased due to shortages.
The price of eggs has increased more than any other consumer good in the last year. A dozen large eggs cost 3.37 dollars (about 3.2 euros) last October, 30.4% more than in the same month last year.
The increase is partly due to a decline in the number of laying hens over the past two years and infections caused by the Efe agency reported on Monday.
The inventory of layers on October 1st was 312.2 million birds, 2.6% less than in the same period of 2023, according to figures from the .
During October, confirmations of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAG) resulted in the loss of 2.8 million layers in Utah, Washington and Oregon.
Based on these losses, the Department of Agriculture’s table egg production projection for the fourth quarter was adjusted downward by 5 million dozen.
Government authorities project a decrease in production for the rest of the year, extending until the first quarter of 2025.
The bleak outlook for this essential commodity prompted Arizona Senator-elect Rubén Gallego to urge Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to “take immediate action” to address the continued spread of bird flu.
In a letter to Vilsack dated Friday, Gallego warned that Arizona farms and farmers are not immune to bird flu outbreaks.
“As the virus continues to spread, supply disruptions threaten to drive up the price of eggs at the start of the holiday season, an additional cost that Arizonans cannot afford,” the congressman emphasized.
Gallego urged the Department of Agriculture to evaluate and issue an emergency for the application of vaccines to cattle and poultry and to consider importing eggs from neighboring countries, such as Canada.
A Bird flu is also affecting the dairy industry. The California Department of Health confirmed this Sunday that it detected the H5N1 bird flu virus in a sample of raw milk sold to the public.
California’s Largest Raw Milk Producer Issued a ‘Recall’ [recolha, em português] voluntary of all dairy products packaged on November 9th and with an expiration date of November 27th.
The announcement comes two days after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a case of bird flu in a child in California, which marked the first recorded minor infection in the country.
