Egg prices drive US to boost imports from Brazil and rethink food safety rules
Egg crisis forces US to loosen rules and ramp up imports (Illustrative photo: Getty Images)
The US has nearly doubled egg imports from Brazil and is considering easing rules to allow the use of eggs from meat chickens in a bid to combat skyrocketing prices caused by the bird flu outbreak, reports USA Today.
Since early 2022, bird flu has wiped out nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys, and other birds in the US, creating a severe egg shortage.
The peak of mass poultry culling occurred in the final months before Donald Trump’s inauguration, which, according to White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, was a result of the previous administration’s policies.
In response, the Trump administration approved imports of Brazilian eggs for use in processed foods - products like cake mixes, ice cream, and dressings - previously allowed only for pet food. The US is also exploring additional imports from Turkiye, South Korea, and Europe.
"We need more yolks for folks," said Representative Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow eggs from meat chickens (broilers) to be used in food manufacturing. According to the National Chicken Council, broiler hens lay around 360 million inedible-for-hatching eggs annually, most of which are destroyed due to current refrigeration regulations.
Food safety concerns and rollbacks of cage-free laws
The National Chicken Council has petitioned the FDA to relax refrigeration rules that currently bar the use of broiler eggs for human consumption.
While the industry claims the eggs are pasteurized and safe, some food safety experts warn that improper storage could allow pathogens to grow to dangerous levels.
"There is a real possibility of trading off the increased risk of foodborne illness for some proportion of eggs going into the egg products market," said Susan Mayne, former director at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Amid the supply crisis, states like Nevada and Arizona have paused or are considering repealing cage-free laws that required retailers to sell only eggs from free-range hens.
"A few years ago, the consumer was demanding a cage-free product," said Patrick Bray of the Arizona Farm and Ranch Group. "Now, the consumers’ eyes have been opened up a little bit as we’ve lost hundreds of millions of birds and egg prices are through the roof."
Amid this scramble for solutions, the US has even recorded a surge in egg smuggling, as prices hit historic highs.
