Picture this: you go to your local grocery stores or mega-supermarket chain to buy your weekly food supplies, such as house-cleaning products, laundry detergent, or pet supplies for your companion. On your route toward the eggs department, you could notice the price of eggs has rapidly increased from the last week you went to the store. If you have a budget to spend on food shopping, you may choose to buy eggs, and hopefully, the price will go down eventually, right?
Well, it won’t happen as soon as you thought. The Bird Flu (Avian Influenza) impacted egg production and caused multiple human, fowl, and poultry cases of Bird Flu in several states, as well as the first human death from the disease. Meanwhile, egg inflation is impacting the market for farmers nationwide following guidelines provided by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Continually increasing the prices and limiting purchasing amounts puts pressure on the working-class customer. The current inflation affects other food industries similarly to egg production, impacted by the high prices of food items and other non-food-consuming items. However, the sickness still isn't contained, as cases of infection still increase slightly among poultry, dairy herds, and wild birds. New Jersey has several cases of wild birds infected with the flu, and most of the infected wild birds perished due to the disease.
Luckily, there haven’t been cases of Bird Flu in commercial egg production and dairy production facilities in New Jersey so far reported by the State of New Jersey Fish and Wildlife website mentioned in the updated article: “While there have been recent confirmations of deaths in localized wild bird populations in parts of New Jersey, there have been no recent reports in domestic poultry or cattle and no human infections in the state” (NJDEP 1). It is positive news that the disease hasn’t affected the local egg production and dairy production facilities in New Jersey. However, it does impact the prices of eggs as target profits soar.
Despite the present-day severity, it won't be a complete collapse of the egg market. It is just a temporary change to stop the spread of the Bird Flu from continuing to impact the market, while also maintaining margins during the widespread infection diminishing stock. As long as the Flu is currently around, we will have to go with the flow and adapt to this change. Meanwhile, while most are succumbing to egg inflation and continuing to purchase them, many are switching to other alternatives of the American breakfast, like cereal, bacon, and pancakes to escape the wallet-munching dozens.
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