By Claire Murphy
Medill Reports
Host Intro:
The bird flu continues to spread across the U.S. Last month, over 18 million chickens were slaughtered and “egg flation” is forcing some shoppers to stop buying eggs altogether.
How are Chicagoans navigating this ongoing egg crisis? Claire Murphy of Medill Reports has the story.
[Grocery store sounds, people shopping ]
It’s Sunday afternoon in the South Loop. Bridget Banister is at Jewel-Osco getting groceries. She’s buying the usual – milk, chicken, broccoli and shrimp. But there’s one thing she won’t be buying today: eggs.
BANISTER: “Just too expensive. Me, myself, want to buy some because I need them for my brownies, my egg salad, and I just, I’ve been holding off. The few ladies that I’ve been talking to that cook, they’ve been holding off just hoping and praying that they’ll go down.”
There’s several options for eggs: grade A, pasture-raised, certified organic and cage-free. Some are $6.50. Others are $9.
BANISTER: “I’ve been noticing a lot of times that the stuff that just goes crazy, sometimes they do eventually come down in the prices.
Other shoppers like Riley Kulakowski are here because they haven’t had much luck finding eggs somewhere else.
KULAKOWSKI: “I normally buy them at Trader Joe’s, but every single time I’ve been going they haven’t had any.”
[Continued grocery sounds]
I visited Trader Joe’s on Thursday afternoon to find out if their eggs were cheaper. But the shelves were clear.
Employees told me their eggs are the only ones on the market right now priced around $4. They usually sell out within an hour.
This is because they buy eggs directly from suppliers and have a smaller product selection.
But shoppers are limited to buying one carton at a time.
The bird flu has impacted egg supply across the country, infecting millions of birds and cattle.
So far, the only identified human cases of the bird flu came from people working on dairy farms, interacting with infected animals, says Dr. Robert Murphy.
He’s the executive director of the Heavy Institute of Global Health and professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern.
MURPHY: “In commercial poultry farms, when bird flu spreads in those settings, I mean, it’s just a perfect setup for spreading influenza. And, you know, they have to basically stop the thing, they have to call all the birds in the setting.”
He says that when an outbreak happens, farmers are forced to wipe out their entire flock to stop the spread. This has put several farms out of business, like Kakadoodle Farm, in Madison, Illinois.
MURPHY: “One day, the lady who owns a farm, it’s a couple, noticed like a dozen or so birds were dead. But the next day was like 50. And so she called the authorities. They came out and the birds had, the birds died from avian flu, and they had to cull all 3,000 chickens. So basically, shut down her business.”
Altogether, over 100 million commercial birds have been slaughtered in the U.S. since the initial outbreak in 2022.
With a strain on chickens, there’s a low supply of eggs, making the ones that are available, a hot commodity.
He says that shoppers should be more worried about high costs than contracting the bird flu from eating contaminated eggs. The virus doesn’t last long in the open air, and commercially sold eggs are washed and boxed before they’re distributed.
Murphy says in terms of egg prices, it’s not looking good.
MURPHY: “Well, you know, those chickens have to grow, and then start laying eggs again. So, the process is not overnight. It takes a while. As long as this bird flu is circulating here, there’s going to be a very difficult time keeping enough chickens laying eggs that can be safely, commercially sold.”
[Grocery store sounds, people shopping ]
Back at Jewel, Bridget Banister says shoppers must be creative.
BANISTER: “I just talked to a lady, she said, ‘No, I’m going old school. I’m gonna learn how to make my recipes without eggs.’ I don’t know what she’s gonna use, but she’s just gonna bag up for a moment and just go old school.”
Banister says she’s hopeful prices will go back down soon, but in the meantime, she’ll be making her brownies without eggs. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, she says. But she’s up for the task.
Claire Murphy, Medill Reports
Claire Murphy is a freelance reporter and graduate journalism student in the investigative specialization at Northwestern’s Medill School. Claire lives in Chicago. You can follow her on X at @clairemurphy22
