Summary
Egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for record-high prices, but critics argue dominant companies are exploiting supply shortages to boost profits.
With over 166 million birds culled and egg layers significantly reduced, prices surged from under $2 to nearly $5 per dozen.
Egg supply is down only 4% from last year, yet profits have surged. Cal-Maine Foods, supplying 20% of U.S. eggs, reported a $219 million profit in the last quarter, compared to just $1.2 million before the outbreak, a 18,150% increase.
Lawmakers and advocacy groups are calling for a government investigation into potential monopolistic practices.
Are
eggproducers inflating pricesduring the bird flu outbreakto boost profits?Yes
There is absolutely no real proof of this.
But the answer is yes.
This article dances around profiteering claims but doesn’t dig deep enough into corporate practices.
🐱🐱
Again? Probably.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they were increasing prices not to take profits and keep them, but to increase profits and purchase politicians. You know… exactly like what’s been happening with this most recent “inflation,” we’ve had.
Just a reminder that a scant couple years ago, egg prices skyrocketed under claims of inflation…and were cut in half almost overnight when Harris threatened RICO investigations.
Which also had supermarkets like Kroger coming forward to admit to gouging (to prevent investigations into other shit they were doing)
In Trump’s America, that’s entirely plausible.
yes
They were told they are supposed to do it. Anyone who complains should be shown MAGAs support for it all the way through.
Simply don’t eat eggs smh my head
Yeah poor people just buy better food. Fucking idiots.
Meat’s a lot more expensive than plants lmao
Narrator: “they are”
Yes
A rare inversion of Betteridge’s law of headlines is “whenever someone questions whether or not the rich and powerful are exploiting everyone, the answer is yes”
It’s capitalism, baby!
Im not sure its the producers that inflate it. Its usually those between producer and consumer
It’s not capitalism, baby?
Maybe it’s Maybelline
If true, Republicans also voted for it.
That is what zero regulations and zero enforcement gets you which is exactly what Trump embodies when gutting regulations and federal funding and jobs for enforcement agencies.
They did last time.
Yeah people act like this hasn’t been going on for years at this point.
100% they are.
I don’t know truth as I one saw YouTube Videos of grocery stores
Egg prices for a dozen… in Canada are around $4.75 (Canadian) In Mexico $53-$70 pesos… or around $2.50-$3.50 US
Edit: after quick search looks like Mexico avoided bird flu because they vaccinate their chickens… didn’t realize we are that strong against vaccination we won’t even vax the chix
The vaccination effort would increase man hour costs and the cost of the vaccines. Can’t do anything that might affect profits.
Yeah because all farm hands are American citizens that make reasonable wages right?
They voted to make sure that they all are.
Nah, it’s the chickens holding the eggs hostage while they demand equal rights and better pay.
I mean, the article keeps mentioning “egg producers” which can only mean the chickens themselves. No human can actually produce the kind of eggs you want in your omelettes.
A DIY chicken coop is starting to look like a goldmine. It would pay for itself in a month or two. If you can repurpose some skids / pallets you can build one really cheap. Chicken feed doesn’t cost much.
I have experience with backyard chickens. Its a wonderful experience, chickens are surprisingly cool critters. And you will get the best eggs you’ve ever had. But you won’t be saving any money lol. Still worth it.
at this point you actually probably will unless feed prices have really gone up that high.
It entirely depends on your infrastructure. I was house sitting a large estate once that basically had 0 upkeep costs for their chicken as they’d go and find most of their own food and there were no natural predators nearby. It was literally free eggs sort of deal.
People who have rice fields for example have 0 upkeep ducks that just go to the field and eat all of the critters there so not only you get free eggs and duck your rice maintenance is easier!
Every person I’ve ever talked to who’s done this has said they regretted it.
Chickens are notoriously delicate.
Most people who think on doing this and succeed really love chickens and have a good way with understanding animals and the value of a life. It’s not for everyone
?
That’s really not been my experience. I’ve lived with chickens my entire life and they do just fine. We have mostly ex-commercial laying chickens, with a couple we hatched ourselves and random chickens from people who had to give away theirs. I’d say the average chicken lasts several years with us and even the badly abused ex-layers usually perk up after a month or two. They live in an enclosure maybe 50m X 10m (for roughly 10 chickens and 10 ducks) We never give any medical care or any care at all other than food in the morning and shutting them away at night. They even put themselves to bed! Clean the hutch out every week or two and that’s really it.
Our neighbours who’ve just moved from a city a few years ago seem to cycle through chickens every couple of months so maybe we are particularly skilled at looking after them and I’ve never noticed…
Shop eggs completely suck compared to real eggs. The shells are so thin and the yolks are the palest yellow. I wouldn’t keep chickens if it was just me though - chicken shit is just awful and I wouldn’t want to be tied to being available every morning and night to put them in and out of bed.
