Consumers seek alternatives to eggs as prices reach all-time high

Yahoo

07-03-2025

NEW YORK (PIX11) — As egg-flation continues to see egg prices skyrocketing, the egg industry is reassuring consumers that it has nothing to do with anything other than bird flu. To suggest something else, it says, is misreading the facts and reality.
More than 160 million birds died since the outbreak of avian flu on farms all across the country. The shortage of eggs has sent prices soaring to a 45-year high.
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Consumers are changing their morning breakfast habits:One shopper outside a New Jersey supermarket said, 'I've been eating eggs my whole life and I can't afford them now.' Another customer commented, 'They're $10 now. I'll probably buy a few more, but I'm not eating them right now. I go through spurts.'
While some businesses are raising prices on egg sandwiches, some Bodegas in our area are lowering prices by switching from fresh eggs to more affordable liquid eggs
Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for United Bodegas of America, pointed out, 'A container of liquid eggs costs 8 or 9 dollars for 18 eggs and for 12 regular eggs it's costing you 30 to 40% more.'
Members of the United Bodega of America Association are being encouraged to lower prices for their signature bacon, liquid egg, and cheese sandwiches from $6 to 4 dollars 99 cents or lower. The group said it's trying to make a statement that bodegas will not allow inflation to make breakfast a luxury.
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With the deadly bird flu detected in 42 of New York's 62 counties, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on Washington to take immediate action to stop its further spread. 'We need to work quickly to develop a vaccine for use on poultry to make sure we stop the spread of this disease before it becomes endemic to the U.S.,' she declared.
Senator Gillibrand said she has sent a letter to government agencies calling for a comprehensive response to the bird flu. The Trump administration says it is already responding. But the New York Democrat isn't so sure of that. She commented, 'I am concerned that his administration's recent action to stop releasing critical data on the spread of bird flu and to fire USDA officials working to address the spread does not inspire much confidence in his ability to do so.'
Just last week the Secretary of Agriculture laid out what she called a comprehensive plan to combat bird flu and bring down egg prices. With the money saved by cuts in the department, she said one billion dollars would be invested to find a long-term solution to the problem.
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