(News Nation) – The lack of eggs and high prices have been largely blamed for the outbreak of avian flu, but new Watchdog Report Companies say prices are creating a crisis by gouging customers.
According to USDA data, they have almost the price of eggsThe last six of us doubledeksthe average cost is around $8.
The avian flu, which expanded poultry and affected herds of dairy cows, has “slightly reduced egg production” but “corporate greed plays a major role,” according to a report from Food and Water Watch released Wednesday.
According to the report, around 10 companies manage the majority of eggs produced in the United States, dictating the price of eggs, regardless of whether they have an outbreak of avian flu.
One of these companies, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, has increased its profits by 7.5 times over the first year of the avian flu outbreak. From that fiscal year, June 2022 to May 2023, Cal-Maine actually sold 7% more eggs than in 20121.
The report says Cal-Maine Foods “ordered buyers to prices far higher than what was needed to cover the rising costs during a period of national egg prices rising.”
“Essentially, they just raised prices and locked them up in national prices. They had no reason,” said Amanda Starbuck, research director at Food and Water Watch.
According to the report, in 20121, Calmaine earned $0.15 per dozen produced and sold. He then made $1.14 per dozen eggs in 2023, selling over 1 billion eggs.
“This is a billion dollar windfall profits generated from consumers having to pay more for their eggs,” Starbuck said.
Cal-Maine did not respond to Associated Press' request for comment.
Emily Metz, the American egg director, said the price has nothing to do with anything other than avian flu.
“To suggest that other things are misunderstandings of fact and reality, said Emily Metz, the chairman of the US eggs. “Our farmers are in the battle of their lives, their periods, their complete halt. And they are doing everything they can to keep these birds safe. This is a supply challenge due to the avian flu. There's nothing else.”
When Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins announced a nearly $1 billion plan to combat current prices surges, he opposed criticism that the higher costs of eggs were the result of avian flu.
Instead, she attributes the current situation to “high input costs, incredible regulations and export market closures.”
Rollins' plans include $500 million for biosecurity measures to “confine barns” and an initiative to re-resident flocks after depopulating nearly 160 million birds under the Biden administration.
Newsnation's digital producer Damita Menezes and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
