FOOD NEWS
California Is Getting Hit By The Worst Of The Egg Shortage. Here's Why
By Andra Picincu
Egg prices in California have more than doubled recently, with the average price of a dozen large eggs jumping from $2.35 to $7.37 in the past year. This is due in large part to a recent outbreak of highly pathogenic Avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, but California’s egg shortage has several other underlying causes.
One factor is Proposition 12, a bill passed in 2018 that requires farmers to assign a specific number of square feet to egg-laying hens and other animals, and disallows them from selling products from those animals until they do. This is an expensive, time-intensive process that means many farmers cannot sell their eggs in the meantime.
Egg prices have increased all over the country starting in spring 2022 when labor shortages caused by the pandemic were on the rise as poultry farmers were simultaneously fighting the bird flu outbreak. Some say that egg prices could finally start to drop this year, but right now it’s too early to make any solid predictions.