Americans across the nation are feeling a strain on their wallets due to avian influenza, commonly referred to as the bird flu, which has led to the largest increase in egg prices in 10 years.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, egg prices surged 15.2 percent nationwide from December to January.
In Iowa City, consumers feel pain — especially the financially vulnerable.
Steph Beecher, the basic needs coordinator of the University of Iowa Food Pantry, located in the Iowa Memorial Union, said the pantry’s egg supply relies on donations from Farmer’s Hen House. The local farm has not only had to cut back on its donations to the food pantry, but the inflation has also limited how many eggs it can sell to large supermarket chains, such as Hy-Vee.
“It’s definitely a pinch. We’re all feeling it,” she said. “Eggs are the most popular item in the food pantry. It spans across cultures very well. It meets a lot of the dietary restrictions that people may have. It’s high in protein, and eggs, even when we’re not in a shortage, we go through them like crazy.”
Beecher said before the shortage in September 2024, the pantry saw approximately 600 people per week and could only serve eggs to 135 of those 600.
“We get deliveries on Monday and Tuesday, and then we open Tuesday, so a bunch of people come on Tuesday, and then throughout the week, it kind of drops off,” she said. “So, what we’re finding is we’re just running out of eggs, shortage or no shortage, by the end of the week.”
Before the egg shortage, the pantry hoped to allocate a portion of its budget to purchase eggs on top of those already donated. Now, such plans must be put on hold.
“When you have to tell somebody, ‘No, we’re out,’ or ‘Sorry, we’ve rationed them for the day,’ it feels defeating,” she said. “Nobody wants to have to tell somebody: ‘Sorry, eggs are out.’ People depend on them.”
Apeksha Adhikari, basic needs manager at the UI Food Pantry, recalls visiting Farmer’s Hen House in the fall 2024 semester. She noted while egg production was slower, a common trend during the winter, it was nothing compared to the shortage brought on by the bird flu.
“The main problem is, avian influenza affects roosters and hens, right?” she said. “The more hens that get affected, the less eggs that they’re going to produce. [Farmer’s Hen House] prioritizes distributing them to grocery stores and then the bigger food pantries. So, we are at the bottom of that priority list.”
Adhikari recalls first hearing about the virus in a UI class, titled Finding Patient Zero.
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“That was a year ago, and they were talking about how avian influenza was starting to spread. And now, a year later, it has clearly spread and has now begun spreading into humans,” she said. “Because of that, a lot of farmers are also euthanizing their poultry.”
The UI food pantry isn’t the only food pantry scrambled by the shortage.
Krystal Kabela, the Iowa City food bank manager for CommUnity Crisis Services, said they also receive donations from Farmers Hen House.
“They donate us eggs that don’t fit the standards for sizing and to be able to sell. So, we continue to receive a donation, but our donation has been cut by at least 25 percent,” she said “So, we don’t have enough to go around. We don’t have the budget, really, to purchase anymore.”
As donations have been cut from 40 cases of eggs, each with 15 dozen, to 30 at the most, spreading such a supply among the 150 to 200 households CommUnity serves has proven extremely difficult.
Kabela said the food bank also received donations from United Natural Foods in the past, but donation amounts have dropped since the summer.
“We’ve talked about trying to ration them throughout the week and only put out a specific amount each day and divide the donation up,” Kabela said. “I don’t know if I find that to be fair, either. So, it’s sort of a tough conundrum to solve.”