Why are egg prices so high? USDA predicts cost will keep rising due to bird flu outbreaks
While U.S. residents have gotten used to high prices at the grocery store, the cost of eggs is expected to rise even further this year.
According to the Department of Agriculture's price outlook, egg prices are predicted to increase about 20% in 2025, compared with about 2.2% for overall food prices. For farm-level eggs, or eggs from pasture-raised or free-range chickens, the increase is even steeper at 45%.
The predicted rise is thanks to an egg shortage brought on by the continued outbreak of avian influenza, or the "bird flu," at poultry farms across the nation.
Here's what you need to know.
When the bird flu is discovered within a chicken population, the United States' practice is to cull the entire group. Sometimes that means millions of chickens at commercial egg-laying farms.
So whether it's chickens dying directly from the bird flu, or from the culling, more than 145 million chickens and other birds have been killed since the outbreak began in 2022. The vast majority of those were egg-laying chickens, the Associated Press reported.
In 2021, prior to the outbreak, there were around 389 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S., according to the Department of Agriculture.
With the egg-laying chicken population so devastated, it's no wonder egg prices are soaring. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of a dozen large grade-A eggs was $4.15 in December, which was up from $3.65 in November. Cage-free and free-range eggs are even more expensive.
According to the Bureau's data, egg prices have fluctuated but largely risen since the onset of the bird flu outbreak in the United States.
Egg pricesInfogram
Since April of last year, there have been 67 cases of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 virus reported in humans in the U.S.
California recently declared a state of emergency as it experiences the brunt of the virus's spread, with 38 cases in humans so far, 36 of which have come from infected dairy cattle herds. At least 732 of the state's dairies have been infected since August.
In Oklahoma, there has been no spread to humans reported. However, there have been 244,320 birds, mostly commercial turkeys or chickens raised for their meat or eggs, infected with the bird flu in Oklahoma during the current outbreak. Two of the state's dairy cattle herds have also been infected.
While most of the bird flu cases in humans have been mild, there has been one death as a result of an infection.
According to the CDC, the virus has so far only spread from animal to human. Public health concerns would significantly increase if the disease starts to spread from person to person.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why have egg prices increased? USDA says cost will continue rising
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