Consumers are seeing some grocery prices rise as the price of eggs used by food manufacturers has more than tripled in recent weeks due to the avian influenza outbreak in 16 states. Bird flu has affected millions of egg laying hens. USDA poultry economist Alex Melton says food company officials are worried about supply.
Melton says it’s hard to say how high costs will eventually climb, since no one knows when the avian flue outbreaks will stop. Roughly 10 percent of the egg laying hens in the U.S. have been affected by the flu.
Eggs used in food processing cost $0.64 per dozen back in April, but now the price is over $2.25 a dozen. Melton says the prices have started to taper, but stabilizing costs depend on the egg industry’s ability to replace and sustain the current flock.
Nebraska’s poultry industry is worth $1.1 billion dollars a year. Next door in Iowa, the nation’s top egg producing state, more than 66 outbreaks of bird flu are reported, and more than 19 million hens and pullets have been eithanized.
