COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Eggs are a staple of breakfast, baking recipes, grocery lists, I could go on and on, but you might have noticed they're more expensive lately.
KRHD Reporter, Rachel Widder, tells us more about how the shortage and increase in price is affecting those in the Brazos Valley.
The Toasted Yolk Cafe in College Station is no egg-ception to the growing concern of trying to purchase or even find eggs.
Owner, Scott Wong, says nearly 90 percent of their menu uses them in some form.
"Obviously it's been something that we've had to learn to deal with, but we've tried to minimize any disruption to the costumer.
We've had to use some more of our local suppliers as well as our main suppliers to make sure that we get the full capacity of what we need to make sure we are keeping up with the needs of the costumers," he said.
Wong said it's been challenging to keep up with the demand for their breakfast and brunch menu items, but he is paying close attention to the future of egg production to hopefully keep business as usual.
"It has been difficult, I will share that, but we're working very hard behind the scenes to ensure they have a great experience and that they don't know or see any differences.
I think that's our best way of kind of giving back to the community," he said.
Bird flu is to blame for many of these issues. Dr. Dennis Jansen, the Director of Texas A&M's Private Enterprise Research Center, said the illness is contagious amongst flocks and causes traditionally less expensive eggs to go up in price.
He said the consumer price index of eggs has gone up 60 %.
"We've destroyed like 58 million birds and for some reason this version of the Avant Flu appears to impact laying hens more than other fowls, other chickens or turkeys," Jansen said.
He said it can be hard to determine the future outcome of eggs, but we can look on when this outbreak has occurred in the past for a better understanding of the likely timeline for egg prices and stock will return to normal.
"My best prediction is that six months after it ends, maybe the egg prices will go back to where they were in 2021," he said.
Tune in on air and online for further details on this potentially growing issue.