Costco, Trader Joe's, Sprouts and other grocery stores across the U.S. are limiting how many eggs customers can buy as bird flu continues to dwindle supply.
The only place I’ve seen prices listed that high in the US is in California.
California apparently has some sort of minimum cage size mandate that a lot of the rest of the US doesn’t, so can’t pull in eggs from the rest of the US, which apparently contributes to California’s problems, since it fragments the US market. Which is probably pretty great if you’re an egg producer in California who hasn’t been hit by bird flu – you’ve got a protected market, and a lot of your competition has been wiped out – but sucks if you’re an egg consumer.
Bird flu continues to play a part in higher egg prices in California.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a Jan. 10 report, said a dozen large shell eggs in the state rose to $8.97.
Some states, like California, are being hit especially hard by the egg crunch, and part of that is likely a result of state-level legislation.
California’s Proposition 12, also called the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, places restrictions on how hens, sows and veal calves can be kept.
The bill, which took effect in recent years, in part banned confinement of egg-laying hens (chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and guinea fowl) in certain areas with less than 1 square foot of usable floor space per hen.
Other states, including Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, have similar laws that specifically provide animal welfare protections to egg-laying hens.
That limits how eggs can be produced and what can be sold in each state. Those that allow only cage-free products already face fewer suppliers and farms (a little more than a third of U.S. egg layers are cage-free, according to the USDA). Manufacturers and sellers also are facing a slowdown as they change operations to comply with such laws.
Last I checked my closest store is at $0.65 USD an egg. Shit’s getting wild
The only place I’ve seen prices listed that high in the US is in California.
California apparently has some sort of minimum cage size mandate that a lot of the rest of the US doesn’t, so can’t pull in eggs from the rest of the US, which apparently contributes to California’s problems, since it fragments the US market. Which is probably pretty great if you’re an egg producer in California who hasn’t been hit by bird flu – you’ve got a protected market, and a lot of your competition has been wiped out – but sucks if you’re an egg consumer.
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/california/2025/01/14/why-are-eggs-so-expensive-in-california-heres-what-to-know/77696594007/
I’m in Seattle everything here is off the charts
You should visit Seattle. Food is somehow even more expensive here than in the Bay Area.