The Disturbing Details Behind the Bird Flu and Egg Prices

Consumers can take a lot, but when you start raising prices on staples like eggs and milk, a definite din begins to rise from the streets.

I knew something was up during a pre-Christmas trip to Costco, where a frenzied mob of shoppers was exasperated after being told, “We’re out of eggs. We won’t have any more until a truck comes in!”

More recently, as I walked down the dairy aisle at my local grocery, a fellow shopper cried out, “I heard about the goose that laid the golden egg, but I thought it was a fairy tale!” Thus ensued an excited conversation between shoppers and the employee posting the new sign that read “$5.49” for a dozen large eggs. That’s up from an average national price of $1.72 less than a year ago.

The reason eggs are so pricey appears, at face value, to be simple supply and demand: “Millions of birds died. Eggs now cost nearly 50% more.“

It’s true that millions of chickens are being “depopulated” due to a worsening bird flu pandemic, but what’s even worse is that the story behind the egg shortage has taken some disturbing turns.