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Price of eggs continue to soar in Texas and nationwide

Cage-free eggs for sale in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Joel Kramer/Flickr
Cage-free eggs for sale in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Eggs are a staple item that’s tough to skip on the grocery list – that’s why shelling out big bucks per dozen is no yoke.

Food prices are up all over the grocery store but the cost of eggs has almost hit the breaking point.

In a month’s time they’ve double in price.

Eggs are a staple item that’s tough to skip on the grocery list – that’s why shelling out big bucks per dozen is no yoke.

J.C. Essler, the Texas Poultry Federation’s Executive Vice President, said there are many reasons why eggs have gotten expensive.

“One is the inflation, the other is the supply chain issue and also unfortunately we are dealing with bird flu which is limiting supply,” he said.

Bird flu is a highly contagious virus that is often fatal to chickens. While Texas itself hasn’t been hit with bird flu, more than 57 million birds in hundreds of commercial flocks have been affected by it in the last year.

Essler said it could take six months for the market to recover from bird flu and the price of eggs are expected to rise again in March and April for Easter.

“Hopefully in the near future we’ll see that demand from the holiday market maintain off and kind of get to a better price point,” he said.

Copyright 2023 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.

David Martin Davies is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience covering Texas, the border and Mexico.