During President Joe Biden’s term, inflation has surged, and now, nature is worsening the situation with shortages and subsequent price hikes for one of America’s most common food staples.
According to the California Poultry Federation, this year is witnessing a significant outbreak of bird flu in California, leading to shortages of eggs, which are already becoming scarce on grocery store shelves in the state.
Grocery store shopper Michelle Fehy from Novato, California, said, “I’m not seeing any eggs. I was here earlier in the week when they were empty.”
Shopper Barbara Barrish said, “There’s not an egg on the shelf, just an empty area.”
Safeway and Lucky stores are displaying signs requesting customers to restrict their egg purchases to two dozen per family during each visit.
Tara Fortier, a shopper at the Safeway store in Alameda, California, said, “It’s sad when anything like that starts to happen. And then, of course, it really brings it home for all of us that there is an impact. It is a supply chain and a food chain. It’s really hard on our grocery stores. It’s really sad for the farmers, and then there’s us. You want to go bake something, and you can’t find eggs, or you can’t have eggs for breakfast. So it’s an impact all the way around.”
According to officials, millions of turkeys and egg-laying hens have contracted avian flu, prompting commercial farmers to euthanize flocks at a minimum of 11 locations.
Growing Egg Shortage Hits America at One of the Worst Possible Times
By George C. Upper III – Jan. 13, 2024https://t.co/1BjuJ8hyyD
Inflation has run rampant throughout President Joe Biden's term, and now Mother Nature is adding insult to injury by arranging shortages of –…
— The Western Journal (@WestJournalism) January 14, 2024
Bill Mattos from the California Poultry Federation said, “The farms are locked down. We don’t let people in and out of the facilities. We’ve lost significant numbers of chickens for eggs in the Central Valley, but I think the Sacramento area should be okay in the next few months once the market kind of takes care of itself.”
Farmers are facing not only the loss of birds, as one poultry farmer explained, but also the considerable time required to replenish their flocks.
Ken Mitchell said, “The biggest thing is the downtime. You could be out four to six months. If you don’t have birds, you aren’t making money.”
As expected, the California Poultry Federation informed the outlet that egg prices would likely continue to increase for at least another month, contingent on the duration it takes to manage the bird flu outbreak.
