Little Rhody Farms owner Eli Berkowitz says egg farmers are concerned that bird flu “hasn’t gone away.”
Consumers and businesses are increasingly looking to egg alternatives as carton prices continue to skyrocket.
The government’s consumer prices report, released on Tuesday, revealed that egg prices rose 8.5% mom in January. On an annual basis, prices increased by 70%.
The nationwide average retail price for a dozen eggs rose to $4.82 in January, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. That is almost 60 cents more than in the previous month. However, it’s a big jump from the $1.92 average reported a year earlier.
Over the past year, egg prices have continued to rise due to inflation and an onslaught of highly pathogenic cases of avian influenza – also known as bird flu. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, over 44 million laying hens have been killed since February 2022 due to ongoing outbreaks of bird flu.
Cartoon of extra large eggs at a Stew Leonard’s in Yonkers, New York in February 2023. (Fox News / Fox News)
However, the market for plant-based eggs is emerging.
BIRD FLU OUTBREAK IMPACTS OVER 24 STATES, RISING POULTRY PRICES
Just egg
Eat Just, which develops and markets plant-based egg alternatives under the JUST Egg brand, saw a 10 percent increase in the penetration of its egg alternatives into US households in the four weeks ended Jan. 28, according to Chief Revenue Officer Matt Riley.
“We’ve hit 2.1 million, our highest household count since we started almost four years ago,” Riley told FOX Business.
Eat Just found a plant that stirs like an egg. (economic wire)
Riley said the company is selling more products at retail than ever before and its prices have “remained stable over the last 13 four weeks,” averaging about $4.30.
Though that’s currently cheaper than the national average retail price for a dozen eggs, Riley acknowledged the company’s prices could rise given the “inflationary headwinds” it’s facing.
Still, 90% of consumers have remarked “that the prices of regular eggs are ridiculously high,” Riley said, citing a January survey commissioned by Eat Just.
“More importantly, nearly 80% said we will do something different…and within that group, 40% said plant-based options are part of that change,” Riley added.
BIRD FLU: IOWA KILLS 1.5 MILLION MORE CHICKENS, TURKEYS DUE TO RECENT OUTBREAKS
Zero Egg is the egg for everyone. Amazingly made from plants. Made with a unique blend of plant proteins, it stirs, bakes and fluffs just like an ordinary egg.
zero egg
Meanwhile, Zero Egg, which makes egg alternatives for restaurants, colleges and universities, and hospitals and hotels, told FOX Business that it’s seeing “absolutely an uptick” in inquiries from potential customers interested in including Zero Egg in their menu programs.
This includes several restaurant chains, which said they were specifically looking for a solution to the price and availability volatility that factory farming has created in the shell egg market, the company said.
BIRD FLU OUTBREAKS PUT US POULTRY FARMS ON HIGH ALERT
In January, Zero Egg saw a more than 150% increase in sample requests. The company is also ahead of sales guidance for February and “sees that continuing through the rest of the month,” the company said.
“Customers are preparing for this to become the new normal for the egg industry and are looking to us as a solution,” continued Zero Egg.
Red Star chickens sleep in their coop at Historic Wagner Farm in Glenview, Illinois on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley/AP Images)
USDA spokesperson Marissa Perry told FOX Business that while progress is being made in fighting inflation and rising food prices, “USDA economists are noting that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is one of the main reasons for the higher egg prices that are causing the… See consumers in stores.”
Likewise, in an open letter on Tuesday, egg producer Vital Farms largely blamed these cases of bird flu for driving up prices.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an outbreak of bird flu, but the most recent variant is particularly contagious and harmful to birds,” said Russell Diez-Canseco, CEO of Vital Farms. “That supply drop and the inflation that we’ve all experienced over the past year have been the main drivers of egg prices.”
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Although egg shipments have declined across the industry, Vital Farms, which has over 300 family farms, is shipping more eggs than it was a year ago, according to Diez-Canseco, which “is a big deal in this environment.”
Perry also said that “USDA remains committed to working with producers to prevent and respond to HPAI outbreaks in egg-producing flocks and to keep eggs on store shelves for consumers.”