With egg shortages impacting supply to stores across the country, and sending prices skyrocketing, one store is setting limits on just how many cartons customers are allowed to buy.
Trader Joe's announced Friday that egg purchases would be limited to "one dozen per customer, per day." The new policy would go into effect for all Trader Joe's grocery stores throughout the country.
"We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joe’s," a statement read.
The ongoing avian flu outbreak has forced farmers to euthanize millions of egg-laying hens in an effort to stop the spread of the disease, leading to lower supply and higher prices.
The average price for a dozen eggs is now more than $5. It has led to some restaurants and food sellers coming up with new policies to help offset some of their losses.
Waffle House, the popular 24-hour diner throughout the South, is now charging a special fee of 50 cents per egg. It comes as the National Restaurant Association says producer costs are up 134% year over year for eggs.
In New York City, some food trucks have had to raise the price of the beloved breakfast staple of commuters — the egg sandwich — in order to make up for the higher cost of eggs.
But restaurants aren't the only ones getting creative to address the issue. A new idea has gained popularity in some parts of the country that eliminates needing to go to a store at all: renting the chicken.
It should come as no shock to anyone who has gone grocery shopping lately: Prices for food keep going up and up, especially for eggs and meat. A New Jersey lawmaker wants a federal investigation into the rising food costs. NBC New York's Lynda Baquero reports.
What is driving up prices?
The bird flu outbreak that started in 2022 is the main reason egg prices are up so much.
Anytime the virus is found on a poultry farm, the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the virus' spread. And with massive egg farms routinely housing more than 1 million chickens, just a few infections can cause a supply crunch.
The problem tends to linger because it takes months to dispose of all the carcasses, disinfect barns and bring in new birds.
More than 145 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been slaughtered since the current outbreak began, with the vast majority of them being egg-laying chickens.
Cage-free egg laws in 10 states may also be responsible for some supply disruptions and price increases. The laws set minimum space for chickens or cage-free requirements for egg-laying hens. They’ve already gone into effect in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Michigan. At a Target in Chicago on Monday, a dozen large conventional eggs cost $4.49, but a dozen large cage-free eggs were selling for $6.19.
A growing egg shortage is breaking the bank for tri-state families and businesses. The shortage is said to be caused by bird flu, and it is cracking budgets across the area. NBC New York's Pat Battle reports.
Why is the virus so hard to control?
Bird flu is primarily spread by wild birds such as ducks and geese as they migrate. While it is fatal to a variety of animals, those species can generally carry it without getting sick, which offers the virus a chance to mutate and thrive.
The virus can be spread through droppings or any interaction between farm-raised poultry and wild birds. It's also easily tracked into a farm on someone's boots or by vehicle.
Unlike previous outbreaks, the one that began in 2022 didn't die out in high summer temperatures.
The virus found another new host when dairy cattle started getting sick last March. That creates more opportunities for the virus to linger and spread and unlike poultry, cattle aren’t slaughtered when they get sick because they rarely die from bird flu.
More than five dozen people have also become ill with bird flu and one person died since last March. Nearly all of them worked around sick animals. Health officials haven’t yet found evidence of the disease spreading from person to person.
Josh Funk, Mark Vancleave and Dee-Ann Durbin of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
