Summary
Major egg corporations may be using avian flu as a ruse to hike up prices, generating record profits while hurting American consumers, new research suggests.
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Egg prices soared to nearly $5 a dozen, rising 157% since before the avian flu outbreak, despite only a 9% drop in laying hens.
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Cal-Maine, controlling 20% of the US market, saw a sevenfold profit increase in 2023 compared to 2021.
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Over 166 million poultry have been culled, but critics say consolidation and slow flock replacement may inflate prices beyond the virus’s 12-24% direct cost.
Lawmakers urge investigations, while the Trump administration plans vaccines, reduced culling, and a $1bn avian flu fund to help stabilize costs.
If they want to sell commercially they have to meet a bunch of regulations at the state and federal level that will likely make their eggs prohibitively expensive at that scale. Most people I know that have enough chickens to consider selling the eggs just put up a roadside stand or use word-of-mouth advertising to get customers. Anything more and they run the risk of getting smacked down by USDA or FDA or even state regulators.