Locally, the price for the same dozen eggs this week is higher than last month’s average, with a dozen eggs at a sale price of $5.19 at Kroger and others closer to $6 or $7 at Walmart and Dot’s Market. A dozen Grade A eggs are selling for $8.49 at Dorothy Lane, and there were reports of a dozen eggs priced as high as $11 at Drexel Foodtown.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month predicted that egg prices likely would go up an additional 20% this year.
Many grocers are limiting the number of cartons consumers can buy, and some restaurants have egg surcharges to help offset the higher prices.
Constance Schaedler said she is diligent about looking for coupons and sales on grocery items, but that the higher prices are not stopping her from buying eggs.
“You do what you got to do. I love my eggs and if I’ve got to spend a little bit more right now, I do it,” said Schaedler on Tuesday outside Dot’s Market in the Crosspointe shopping center in Centerville.
Some parts of the U.S. are reporting egg shortages, but so far that does not seem to be an issue in Ohio, which is the second-largest egg producing state, behind Iowa.
Ohio is first in the nation, however, in the number of cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, among commercial poultry operations, with more than 11.2 million chickens and turkeys infected between Jan. 9 and Friday, according to data reported by the USDA and Ohio Department of Agriculture.
So far in February, there have been more than 1.75 million cases involving more than 1.6 million egg-laying chickens, nearly 20,000 pullets — or chickens less than a year — and more than 126,700 turkeys.
In all cases, the premises were quarantined and the birds were killed to help prevent the spread of disease, the ODA reported.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation” that the federal government will seek “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” rather than the practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected.
The administration planned to announce further details this week, Hassett said, and were “working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world,” to get the plan ready, the AP reported.
The poultry industry has long resisted vaccinating flocks against bird flu because of the potential affects on export markets, as well as the expense. The AP reported that most U.S. trading partners won’t accept exports from countries that allow vaccinations due to concerns that vaccines can mask the presence of the virus.
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