The United States of America has been hit by an acute egg shortage. At least 47 states have reported a more than 90 percent drop in egg supply.
The country has since announced a “national egg shortage” with little to no supply of eggs. Shelves in retail stores have been left empty with people fighting for any little that comes their way.
To make matters worse, on Tuesday morning, the largest plant that supplies eggs in the United States of America, Hillendale Farms caught fire, leaving at least 100,000 chickens dead.
The shortage has also been blamed on the massive bird flu that is sweeping across the United States. So far, about 58 million birds have been affected with millions of chickens dying.
For decades, eggs have easily (and relatively cheaply) been purchased from grocery stores and stocked in kitchens across the United States, but they’ve become increasingly hard to come by or way more expensive in recent months.
In some stores across the U.S., customers are limited in the number of egg cartons they can buy. Many have complained that even though they have the money to buy the eggs, they are nowhere to be seen.
“One of the reasons behind the sudden shortage is the outbreak of bird flu that, after starting last year, has killed millions of birds in a dozen countries around the world, including poultry and wild birds. In the U.S., more than 58 million birds in 47 states have been affected,” said a statement from the Department of Agriculture.
The United States is not known to import eggs from other countries. The country has often produced enough eggs to feed the population. The recent scenario might force the world’s largest egg producer to buy eggs from other countries after many years.
Given that most African countries are facing egg shortages too, the USA will have to try China.
