Egg shortage Australia: What you need to know

An image of an empty supermarket fridge, which would normally contain eggs, highlights the impact of bird flu on the country’s poultry supply as farmers battle to stop its spread.

A Melbourne man shared a photo on social media on Sunday showing a local Woolworths store running out of eggs despite imposed purchase limits.

“They are killing all the chickens. NO EGGS,” he wrote.

This comes as the outbreak of bird flu continues to spread. Across New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, 11 farms have been affected, killing more than a million chickens.

This has led to a major shortage of eggs. Last week, Woolworths customers in NSW, ACT and Victoria were only able to get two cartons of eggs as the outbreak disrupted supplies.

Coles introduced a similar policy earlier in June.

McDonald’s is also feeling the pressure and announced this week that its egg-heavy breakfast menu will no longer be served at 10:30 a.m., instead of noon, in a bid to limit the number of guests.

Rowan McMonnies, managing director of Australian Eggs, acknowledged the mass cull would cause disruptions to the supply chain.

Both Coles and Woolworths have introduced restrictions on egg purchases, and many Australians are struggling to get their hands on them

But he said that at worst, consumers would experience a minor inconvenience if they made a purchase, adding: “If you want eggs, you’ll get them.”

You may not be able to eat eggs at all times as you normally would, [but] “There will still be plenty of eggs available over the winter,” he told ABC Radio.

“We really caution against any kind of panic… there are no food safety issues related to these incidents. Eggs, chicken, duck are all safe to eat and consumers should not be concerned about them.”

Experts say the disease poses no risk to human health, but Mr McMonnies said culling the poultry was the right approach because of the “terrible” impact the disease has on animal welfare.

“The idea that we can just let it happen and it can get out of control is completely wrong. These things need to be eradicated and eradicated because they are very damaging,” he said.

The H7 strain of bird flu virus found in Australia is not the H5N1 strain that has infected billions of animals worldwide and raised fears of transmission to humans.

Egg shortage at Coles supermarket in Canberra on Sunday

Workers in protective suits clean a truck in a quarantine area following a bird flu outbreak in Victoria