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Page added on June 6, 2015
Egg rationing in America has begun
In recent days, an ominous sign has appeared throughout Texas. “Eggs [are] not for commercial sale,” read warnings, printed on traditional 8 1/2-by-11-inch pieces of white paper and posted at H-E-B grocery stores across Texas. “The purchase of eggs is limited to 3 cartons of eggs per customer.”
H-E-B, which operates some 350 supermarkets, is one of the largest chains not only in the state, but in the whole country. And it has begun, as the casual but foreboding notices warn, to ration its eggs.
“The United States is facing a temporary disruption in the supply of eggs due to the Avian Flu,” a statement released on Thursday said. “H-E-B is committed to ensuring Texas families and households have access to eggs. The signs placed on our shelves last week are to deter commercial users from buying eggs in bulk.”
The news, as the grocer suggests, comes on the heels of what has been a devastating several months for egg farmers in the United States. Avian flu, which has proven lethal in other parts of the world, has spread throughout the United States like wildfire. Since April, when cases began spreading by the thousands each week, the virus has escalated to a point of national crisis.
As of this month, some 46 million chickens and turkeys have been affected, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly 80 percent of those are egg-laying hens, a reality that has been crippling for the egg industry.
But it’s becoming increasingly clear that it isn’t merely those who produce eggs that will suffer. Those who eat them will pay a price, too.
The wholesale price of eggs sold in liquid form (a.k.a. egg beaters, the kind used by large food manufacturers) has skyrocketed — from $0.63 per dozen to more than $1.50 — since the virus began to spread. While that stands to affect the price of breads, pastas, cakes and other commercial confections made with eggs, it also bodes poorly for food service providers, such as McDonald’s, which sell millions of egg-filled meals every morning. Texas-based fast-food chain Whataburger recently announced that it will be shortening its breakfast hours for the foreseeable future.
“We know this is no fun for anyone and hope this doesn’t last long, and we apologize the supply of eggs cannot currently meet demand,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.
In-shell egg prices have risen too. The average price per dozen has just about doubled since the end of May, according to the USDA. Have a look at that red line in chart below.
But incremental price increases are hardly as noticeable as strict limits on purchases, such as those already appearing at one of the country’s largest supermarket chains, which makes the signs at H-E-B stores all the more foreboding. H-E-B has called the disruption “temporary” but hasn’t delineated any time frame for the three-dozen-egg limit.
Given how fruitless efforts have been to contain the flu so far, it’s hard to imagine the system will be flooded with a fresh stream of eggs any time soon. It seems likely, in other words, that other grocers will begin rationing eggs, too, before H-E-B is able to sell patrons as many as they wish to eat.
And with each wrinkle of bad news, the idea of a national egg shortage, which was once uttered as though it were a mere apocalyptic musing, is suddenly looking like a real possibility.
30 Comments on "Egg rationing in America has begun"
Apneaman on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 7:07 pm
Typica BAU MSM. No mention of root causes; poor industrial practices and climate change.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/12/avian-flu-low-new-year/
Makati1 on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 9:17 pm
The end has begun. Or at least the end of the cheap egg. If the virus spreads through all of the tightly connected poultry industry, there may not be any chickens soon or turkeys or…
Funny how when it happens in Asia, it is ignored and blamed on the poor, ignorant, peasant farmers. Who gets the blame in the US? The consumer? Certainly not the corporate factory farmers. Is your Thanksgiving bird in the freezer? LMAO
Speculawyer on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 9:26 pm
So what? Be glad it wasn’t a human flu outbreak.
GregT on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 9:40 pm
“So what? Says Spec.
“Because the greatest flu pandemic known to history, the “Spanish flu” of 1918—which killed at least 50 million and possibly 100 million people around the world— began as an avian virus, disease authorities watch any bloom of bird flu carefully, braced in case another strain makes that bird-to-human leap.”
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/07/bird-flu-1/
Thats why this is a very big deal Spec. Viruses mutate, the larger the outbreak, the greater the possibility of mutation.
farmlad on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 9:46 pm
What a misrepresentation, chickens that have access to sunlight and green grass are probably less than 1% of the hens. Why can’t they post a picture of the hens in cages with an 11″ x 7″ space to call home.
Perk Earl on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 12:13 am
Let’s see, fewer eggs, chickens and bees. I wonder if there is any information there that we should be paying attention to and changing our ways? Well, even if there is I’m sure it will be ignored.
hiruitnguyse on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 1:06 am
That’s not all that’s about to be rationed:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32014L0059
Boat on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 6:44 am
I live in Houston and shop at HEB. Eggs have been around $1.80 for years and last week I saw no indication of any egg problem. No jump in prices or limit to 3 dozen.
Davy on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 8:32 am
I live on a farm and eat farm fresh eggs that are free range. Yummy
Repent on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:00 am
I work for a food wholesaler. They are expecting actual shortages of eggs and fryer chickens by October. Sources have indicated that turkeys will also be affected and there will be shortages of turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
400,000 million chickens had to be euthanized in Mexico, the US, and Canada. I’m in my mid-forties and I can’t ever recall a shortage of eggs in my lifetime.
This will spike food inflation, as everything that requires eggs additives, like pastry and cakes will have cost inflation.
Repent on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:05 am
Sorry, the above should read 400 million chickens not 400 thousand chickens.
The problem that caused all this was the organic farm movement by the way. They refused to give anti-biotics to the chickens, and the birds started getting ill.
Lore on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:50 am
Yikes!… What’s going to happen to Buffalo Wild Wings?
Cassie on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:51 am
Repent; your biologically ignorant ways will doom you. Perhaps you are gaining economic insights but your biology is weak.
Bird flues have been around as long as birds, or therapods (dinosaur derivatives), have. The conditions for their transmission are close encounters, long term contact, repeated exposures, shared transportation routes and similar environs, added to stress.
Birdways such as large waterfowl follow to migrate meet these conditions particularly as their natural stopping spots are destroyed and degraded. The virus organisms go along for the ride.
Chicken farms are very concentrated groups of chickens that are in very bad conditions. They are given antibiotics for growth and bacterial disease protection.
Antibiotics do nothing against viruses. The avian flu organism is a virus.
If you hate organic, just say so; I will say that linking the organic food movement to viruses and disease transmission without evidence thereof is ignorant and offensive, and given you claim of industry employment suggests your bosses have educated you into a bias against such labeling, which you echo.
Repent, Repent.
Cassie on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:56 am
The thing that happened with buffalo is happening to chickens and food scientists are scrambling to rebrand corn chips as buffalo chips.
Perk Earl on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 10:59 am
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=how+many+chickens+are+eaten+each+year+worldwide
click on that link and it says 50 billion chickens are killed each year for consumption worldwide.
50 billion divided by 7.2 billion people = rounded off is 7 chickens per person annually.
We better hope nothing happens to them chickens.
Speculawyer on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:52 am
Yes, GregT, that was exactly my point.
GregT on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 12:00 pm
“So what? Be glad it wasn’t a human flu outbreak.”
It hasn’t ended yet spec. So it is still a very big deal. That is “so what”.
rockman on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 6:58 pm
Eggs have always been “rationed” in the US…by the pricing mechanism. Prices get high and a fewer folks buy eggs.
“The purchase of eggs is limited to 3 cartons of eggs per customer.” That is not “rationing”. I can buy 100 dozen cartons of eggs from the HEB chain any day of the week. All I have to do is hit enough different check outs in different stores. And if I ran a restaurant I could make all the omelets I needed by the same process. All I need do is raise my prices a little bit. There are no “egg ration cards” to present. Just more MSM hype just because it’s there.
Nony on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 8:09 pm
Peak EGG! ZOMFG.
And I loooove those scrambles, those Western and Spanish omelets. Those sunny side up runny ones that you crush into your grits and the runover A1 from your steak and eggs. What will my life be without eggs?
I have religion now. Stop the drilling, you fracker meanies. I need my eggs!
GregT on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 8:30 pm
Good to see that you finally found some meaning in your life Nony. Baby steps first….
Makati1 on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 9:42 pm
Eggs are in:
Mayonnaise
Salad dressings
Sandwich spreads
Some breads
Pastries
Cakes
Cookies
and, of course, most breakfast sandwiches or meals.
So, just raising your own does not mean you have no expense. It is another inflation additive among many today.
Nony on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 10:13 pm
I was all ready to get liberal with you, Greggy-poo. But then I heard this song that reminded me of how diesels pounding and pumping = America.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15a99f_c-w-mccall-convoy-music-video_music
GregT on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:19 pm
Bi-polar? There’s meds for that Nony. You can even live a healthy, happy, and productive life. Might even help you to meet someone.
keith on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:24 pm
I believe antibiotics have no affect on viruses. That is why we get the flu vaccination every October. A virus is considered not alive because it needs the machinery of its host to replicate. Antibiotics kills something biotic, that is something alive, like bacteria.
Apneaman on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 1:55 am
There Might Be No Saving the World’s Top Banana
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-04/banana-killer-on-the-march-fuels-risk-of-fruit-s-next-extinction
Lawfish1964 on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 10:09 am
My chickens are right on the cusp of laying. So pretty soon, I’ll be not at all worried about the price of eggs.
J-Gav on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 2:42 pm
Well I’ll be a suck-egg mule!
R1verat on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 4:21 pm
I’ve raised my own chicken & eggs for years. Sell both also. One of my neighbors just had 9 birds disappear. They believe they were stolen due to this shortage. I think a fox was teaching her kits to hunt.
Would encourage anyone considering getting into raising their own meat & eggs to do so. Chickens are about as easy to raise as farm livestock ever comes! Good basic skill set to learn now on raising a part of one’s own food.
Incidentally, I won’t be raising my egg prices. Live in a true community & unless my feed costs increase, I don’t believe in gouging my neighbors. We will live together or die together.
Goat1001 on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 5:17 pm
Eggageddon.
Makati1 on Mon, 8th Jun 2015 8:40 pm
keith, flu vaccines are a waste in most cases. If you live a healthy lifestyle, you don’t need them. I’m 70 and I can count the number of flu shots I have had on one hand with fingers left over. I stopped taking them when I contacted flu AFTER I got the shot. They are mostly a money maker for Big Pharm.