The Real Reason Egg Prices Are Rising

You might have noticed during your grocery store run that food prices are continuing to get worse, rising at unprecedented rates. According to NPR, every ingredient or meal that comes from a restaurant or grocery chain has jumped in price, and experts believe that general food prices will continue to increase by up to 5.5% in the upcoming days. Certain foods might fare worse than others — experts predict beef and veal will rise up to 16.2%, fats, shortening, and oil should jump by 11.7%, and eggs should see an 11.4% price hike.

The cost of eggs has spiked in certain regions across America and TODAY reports that the Midwest has been most affected, with a rise in price by almost three times compared to the cost one year ago. Some grocers have noted that a dozen eggs now surpasses $3 per container. Easter helped exacerbate the price of the ingredient, but one other insidious circumstance has pushed the price of eggs even higher up.

According to The Washington Post, a wave of avian flu has hit North America. The new strain has affected almost 27 million chickens and turkeys, and as a result, farmers have had to destroy wide swathes of their flocks. The CDC reports that this particular strain of avian flu shouldn't pose a high risk to humans, but it has popped up in 31 states.

Per The Washington Post, the widespread effects of the disease have hit 1.3% of the nation's chicken farms and 6% of the Nation's turkeys. The last time America saw an outbreak this widespread was in 2015, and the new outbreak easily surpasses the effects seen in the previous wave. This has been a major contributor to the rise in egg prices over the past few weeks, and Grady Ferguson, a senior research analyst for the agriculture data platform Gro Intelligence, warns that "we will see higher prices for all baked goods and a wide variety of processed foods from cupcakes to salad dressing."

While things look bad for egg lovers, TODAY reports that North America should not expect to see a serious egg shortage, just a steep hike in price.