Chickens and cattle hit with massive bird flu outbreak. Will food prices go up?

(NEXSTAR) – The next highly contagious strain Avian influenza It’s not just the chickens that are infected, affecting the flocks of major egg producers across the U.S. dairy cow One person in Texas also tested positive. believed to have been infected with the virus After handling affected cattle.

As the H5N1 influenza A virus spreads, major egg producers are forced to kill millions of chickens to stop the outbreak.

It’s a financial loss for producers and can eventually become a burden on a family’s grocery bill.

“We can expect some price increases over the next 30 to 60 days as a large amount of potential eggs are rapidly withdrawn from the market,” said Amy Hagerman, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University.

Under normal circumstances, egg prices would normally fall after the Easter holiday, when demand is high. She doesn’t expect that to happen this year.

Additionally, egg prices have not fully recovered from the ups and downs of the past two years. In 2022, when 10% of Japan’s egg-laying hens died due to avian influenza, prices skyrocketed.

Currently, the average price for 12 eggs is approximately $2.99. federal data. This is worse than six months ago, when a carton usually cost about $2, but much better than in January 2023, when the average price for 12 eggs was $4.82.

While egg prices start to rise gradually as the bird flu outbreak spreads, the situation is different for dairy products.

Texas Department of Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller said Texas dairy farmers first became concerned three weeks ago when their cows started contracting what officials are calling a “mystery dairy cow disease.” Milk production plummeted and the cows became lethargic and stopped eating much.

“I had never seen anything like this before,” he said. “It felt like I had a cold.”

Hagerman said the virus does not appear to be as deadly or contagious in cattle as it is in poultry. “When this virus gets into a poultry block, all the animals are infected within a very short period of time. Not reported by doctors.”

This means fewer cow deaths and fewer production interruptions in the dairy industry.

So far, poultry prices have not been affected. While the egg-laying hens population has declined by millions, the operations of commercial broilers raised for meat have not been significantly affected. Some turkey flocks are affected.

And while eggs may become more expensive in the coming months, they will likely be as safe to eat as ever. Pasteurizing both eggs and milk kills the virus.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.