11-05-2025
Costco Sells An Overwhelming Amount Of Eggs Per Year
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Eggs are the ultimate breakfast staple in the United States, there's little doubt about that. United Egg Producers reports that an average American consumes over 200 eggs every year, and the overall egg production in the States brought in over $93 billion in 2024 alone. One group of people that fervently loves their morning eggs are certainly Costco shoppers, considering that the wholesaler sells a truly remarkable amount of eggs per year. In 2015, Costco sold nearly 3 billion eggs, and, according to David and Susan Schwartz in their book "The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z," the number jumped to 4 billion by 2016.
A big reason why Costco's eggs are so beloved among customers is that they are mostly cage-free. The wholesaler committed to selling cage-free eggs (which are different from pasture-raised eggs) back in 2007 and increased the percentage each year, despite catching some heat for not doing it faster. Per the store's Animal Welfare report, since 2019, over 90% of Costco eggs sold in the U.S. are cage-free. In the U.K., Spain, France, Iceland, and Mexico (since 2021), that number is 100%. In Canada, on the other hand, Costco only sells about 20% of cage-free eggs. The store still plans to increase the amount of cage-free eggs it sells worldwide (currently 70% overall), but notes that the speed of that depends on local resources.
Read more: 12 Best Costco Prepared Foods To Buy And 11 To Avoid
Despite the massive popularity, animal welfare commitment, and large sales numbers, Costco's eggs have been through some hiccups. In November 2024, over 10,000 units of Kirkland Signature eggs were recalled in one of the biggest Costco recalls of all time. The eggs were pulled from the shelves in five states over fears of possible salmonella contamination. Since 2023, Costco has also been battling a national egg shortage due to the avian flu, which has impacted many egg-laying flocks. This resulted in a lower percentage of cage-free eggs being sold at Costco in 2023 than in the previous years in order to keep the shelves stocked and the customers happy.
In February 2025, the egg shortage became so severe that the wholesaler put a limit on the amount of eggs an individual customer could purchase -- an action taken by many other grocery stores as well. As a result, people waited in overwhelmingly long lines that spanned way outside the store just to pick up their three cartons of eggs. But in spite of these setbacks, Costco remains committed to its goal of selling 100% cage-free eggs in all of its stores worldwide, even though it could take several years to achieve this in certain locations. The company requires audits twice a year from all its egg suppliers (including the main farm behind Kirkland Signature eggs) and has even built a special app called "Costco Hen House" through which those audits take place.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
