As egg prices continue to spike, Pittsburgh area grocers don't see an end in sight due to the bird flu outbreak
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - In diners and in stores, consumers are beginning to see the impact of bird flu spreading across the country, making the scramble for eggs a real challenge for shoppers.
The USDA said the combination of bird flu and inflation might drive up egg prices by another 20% this year.
Egg price check
At Kuhns Market on the North Side, one of the first things we wanted to do was a price check because that's what we've heard the most about. An 18-egg carton costs $10.29 and it was about half that price two years ago. That's not all. A half carton now sells for $3.29, three years ago, it was 89 cents.
The sticker shock continues for people coming to the dairy section at Kuhns and it probably won't get better any time soon.
"We're hardly getting any," said Mark Nelko, the manager at Kuhns. "I think we ordered like 80 cases and we got about 8 cases of eggs to come in."
Grocery stores taking a hit from egg prices
Nelko also said that if you think you're paying more for eggs, you should hear the hit that some of the local grocers are taking.
"At one point, we were charging less than what we were paying for the product," he explained.
When asked if it's affecting the bottom line the answer was simple.
"Oh yeah, absolutely."
We also reached out to Giant Eagle and were provided with the following statement:
"We are confident our supply channels will enable us to continue sourcing meaningful allotments of eggs for our guests, though select stores may experience temporary supply issues if guest demand peaks before the store's next egg shipment is received. For this reason, we have equipped all our supermarkets with signage to ensure guests are informed if a store the store they visit is experiencing such an issue."
How bird flu is impacting egg prices
The avian flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens per month in the United States. At the farm in Lehigh Valley, they maintain a flock of 50,000. State and federal officials are there now inspecting the scope of the outbreak.
Now, it's just a matter of time until this, along with the rest of the bird flu issues nationwide affects your wallet.
"Especially now that we're going into the Easter season coming up in the next few months," Nelko said. "There's going to be a huge egg shortage for that."
These stores realize this may have people running to their stores trying to stockpile eggs, but if you're going to be one of those people, the shelf life is only about five weeks.
A way to test to see if the eggs you stockpiled are good - put them in water before cooking. If the egg floats, it's bad. If it sinks, it's good.