In recent weeks, egg prices in grocery stores have risen dramatically — from an average of $6 in 2024 to nearly $9 by February, with California stores attributing this increase to supply shortages caused by the recent bird flu outbreak.
First reported in the U.S. in March 2024 in Pennsylvania, the influenza A (H1N2) variant virus strain has killed and contaminated millions of poultry and also infected humans.
Now, according to ABC7 News, stores such as Costco, Safeway and Trader Joe’s have seen empty egg shelves as the supply of eggs falls.
Bird flu has not only infected chickens, but it has also been proven to be possibly fatal to humans after a person in Louisiana was hospitalized with the H5N1 bird flu variant on Jan. 26 and later passed away from it. Simultaneously, according to the World Health Organization, about half of more than 950 reported cases of H5N1 outside of the U.S. have led to deaths.
Not only has this flu outbreak disrupted the diets of millions of Americans, but it has also caused food facilities like the school cafeteria to make adjustments.
According to cafeteria cook Orfa Escalante, the cafeteria’s eggs, which come in liquid, half-gallon cartons, have tripled in price on Feb. 5, rising from $37 to $103, before dropping back down to normal after about two weeks. Then, after a few days, when they started buying thirty pound cartons, the fluctuating price doubled, rising from $97 to $231; meanwhile, the chicken prices themselves have stayed stable.
The high prices have made offering egg-heavy breakfast items such as the breakfast bowls and burritos difficult to maintain. Escalante noted that, during the weeks when the cost of eggs surged, the cafeteria was considering discontinuing those items temporarily and replacing them with mainly bagels and sausages. However, due to the short duration of the decreased egg prices, that did not occur.
“It’s difficult since the eggs got more expensive, and the cafeteria would run out of eggs,” Escalante said. “Instead of discontinuing our breakfast items, we try to find eggs in different places, and usually we’re able to get it.”
