Have you noticed fewer eggs at your local grocery store? Or that the price of the remaining eggs have jumped?
Economists said the bird flu is continuing to impact the supply chain, with California becoming the epicenter of the virus and the fallout.
Gillian Thorp went to her local Trader Joe's in Santa Clara in search for a dozen eggs that now costs her $4, assuming she could find some in the first place.
"I stopped by the egg section and there were only two choices," Thorp said. "It was pretty empty. I usually only purchase organic eggs and there was only one choice for that."
Some other stores priced eggs several bucks higher.
There are a few factors behind the shortage and price hike of eggs, but the main one is the bird flu.
California currently has 31 commercial flocks affected by the virus, the most of any state. Federal regulations require that when any bird tests positive for the virus, the entire flock must be destroyed to prevent the bird flu from spreading.
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That included a flock of 1.17 million chickens in Merced County last week. UC Davis Professor San Sumner said that the process of cleansing a chicken flock from the bird flu takes some time.
“They’ll bring 20-week old chickens back into the farm as soon as they get it all cleaned up and sanitized and that’s a several week process," Sumner said. He also mentioned that California's rule that only cage-free eggs can be sold in the state also increases prices.
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In its most recent outlook, the USDA said egg production is down about 2.5% year over year and expects prices for those eggs will be higher due to the bird flu outbreak.
“We want to buy the same amount of eggs as we did before, which means the price has to go up by even more… with fewer eggs," Sumner said. "So if 10% of the eggs are not in the market, the price has to go up a lot to get people, overall, to cut back by 10%.”
