California is experiencing a shortage and price spike in eggs due to the ongoing bird flu outbreak. The average price of a dozen eggs has jumped to nearly $9, leaving consumers scrambling to find affordable options. The outbreak has significantly impacted poultry flocks, leading to supply chain disruptions.
A bird flu outbreak has Californians paying steep prices for eggs, with consumers sometimes scrambling to locate a carton of eggs amid a disrupted supply chain that has left some store shelves empty. The average price of a dozen large eggs starkly increased in California in December to $8.97, up from $5.68 in late November, and has remained at that price into the start of the year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.
Some stores including a Ralphs in El Segundo have posted signs explaining that the recent shortage of eggs is due to 'the cost to source cage-free eggs,' a result of California's Proposition 12, which went into effect in 2022 and requires that hens not be confined in cages. However, the latest and biggest inflection on the market is due to the avian flu. Several restaurants have already started raising their prices to reflect higher egg costs. Restaurant manager Lyndsey Stevens of Boss Hogg's Country Kitchen in Farmersville, Calif., told KFSN-TV in Fresno that the increased cost has forced the restaurant to search for the cheapest egg prices to avoid passing on the cost to customers. But on the Central Coast, San Luis Obispo restaurant Bon Temps Creole increased a $15 menu item with two eggs to $17, KSBY reported. Persistent and significant outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza have decimated California's poultry flocks and as a result hurt the egg supply chain, according the USDA's most recent egg report. Avian influenza viruses spread through direct, bird-to-bird contact. They can also spread through contaminated surfaces or materials, such as manure, egg flats, crates, clothing and hands. Once the virus is detected, flocks are euthanized and it takes a few months to repopulate a farm's flock, Bill Mattos president of the California Poultry Federation told the Ventura County Star. The outbreak has been wreaking havoc for egg farmers since it started in February 202
AVIAN FLU EGGS CALIFORNIA FOOD PRICES SUPPLY CHAIN
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