Community Chat

[KKJ]

Shocked and dismayed grocery shopping and seeing eggs close to $4 a dozen!  What's the deal?  Is there a chicken shortage?

[StylishLady]

I read somewhere that a lot of eggs had to be destroyed because of Salmonella.

Supply and demand at work. It will adjust back soon.

[butterfly123]

This price increase is due to a number of factors, including increased demand for eggs in the United States; the USDA expects consumers to eat more eggs than ever before this year.

“If you look at the items that consumers say they want more of in their diet, protein tops the list,” David Portalatin, a Houston-based food industry adviser for NPD Group, tells Fortune.

NPR reports that American egg consumption has reached approximately 274 eggs per capita per year.

“This is the highest of the past 38 years,” Iowa State University professor Hongwei Xin, who directs the school’s Egg Industry Center, tells NPR; he notes that this number will likely increase.

Other factors contributing to increased demand of United States-produced eggs include a recent outbreak of bird flu affecting egg production in South Korea, the Philippines, South Africa, and the Netherlands. The Netherlands’ egg production was also affected by the inappropriate use of an insecticide not approved for use in food animals in an attempt to delouse chickens; this led to millions of eggs being removed from supermarket shelves in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium in August.

[Carmie]

In the US there is more demand for eggs as the consumption is up.  

We are also exporting more eggs to Asia, especially to Korea.  The bird flu has destroyed their chickens.

They are getting expensive, but are still a good value for their nutritional delivery.

They were always less than $1 a dozen here in PA.  They are around $2.25 now, but sometimes I can find them for about $1.25 on sale.

$4.00 Yikes!!

[grandma petes]

Check your local area to see if people are advertising fresh eggs for sale. I have several people in my area that offer fresh, organic fed, free range eggs for 3.00 a dozen. There are always several Facebook posts everyday. 

[viva923]

Salmonella is taking its toll. Most of the eggs have been wiped out with this latest round of problem. 

Our area, all of Walmart’s, lidl’s, Food Lion, eggs all have to be destroyed because of this outbreak of salmonella. 

[CoffeeNut]

I haven't really payed attention to the price increases.  I always buy Eggland's Best and they are higher priced anyways. 

[goldensrbest]

Food prices seem to keep going up.

[Marp]

Yesterday I bought a dozen large eggs for 90 cents at the supermarket.  Extra large were $1.29 and Jumbo were priced at $1.69 a dozen.   I don't recall the price of the organic eggs but they were around $3.00 a dozen.

ETA:  Perhaps, @KKJ, your store gets their eggs through the supplier that was affected by the salmonella and recalled their eggs.

[Kitlynn]

My cousin just paid $5.03 in Co for eggs. It is crazy!!