Why are egg prices so high? End outbreak, high protein diets cited

By JULIET BRISKIN | Staff writer

December 25, 2003 -- In Texas, just as in the rest of the United States, the cost of the holiday season has gone up yet again. This year's culprit is the almighty egg, with prices reaching 20-year highs.

"Egg producers were losing money for about four years, and finally in 2003, a number of events caused industry prices to rise," explained Gene Gregory, senior vice president of the United Egg Producers. "But please take note, current farm egg prices have dropped about 30 cents per dozen since the peak of Thanksgiving. Retailers, however, may not have followed this downward trend as they often do not. "

According to Gregory, one leading cause of the price increase was the outbreak of Exotic Newcastle disease in southern California. "The outbreak caused the federal government to force the depopulation of more than 3 million laying hens," stated Gregory.

A source speaking for the Texas Poultry Foundation (TPF) seconded Gregory's theory about the Exotic Newcastle disease outbreak and added that despite the loss of so many birds, no significant numbers of replacement laying hens were put into production.

"With the number of commercial birds down and the increase in demand during the holiday season, the law of supply and demand took over," stated the TPF spokesperson.

In addition, the egg industry is currently implementing new animal welfare guidelines that require producers to reduce the number of birds per cage. "By increasing the number of square inches required for each bird in the house," explained the TPF spokesperson, "you are going to have less birds in production."

For a number of years the egg has been getting some relatively bad press, but, explained Gregory, "the 'An Egg A Day Is OK' message from nutritionists may have more people choosing to include eggs in their diets that previously had held concerns about cholesterol."

In 1999, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study concluding that healthy individuals who ate up to an egg a day had no more risk of heart disease or stroke than those who ate fewer eggs. Keeping in pace with the Harvard study the American Heart Association removed all restrictions on eggs in the diet and deemed the egg an essential part of the food pyramid.

Following the positive press and scientific studies on the egg came the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet craze. "It appears that diets such as the Atkins are partially responsible for the increased egg consumption across the United States," said Gregory. "Eggs fit in very nicely with the high protein, low-carb diets that are now so popular."

The TPF spokesperson explained that eggs are the number one breakfast item on many of these diets. "Consumption has increased dramatically over the past few years," he stated. "The high protein diets have only served to fuel this increase."