Eggs are now so expensive that Americans are smuggling them out of MEXICO with a 300% increase in the number seized

The price of eggs has increased so much in the past year that Americans are now turning to smuggling across the US-Mexico border.

A persistent outbreak of bird flu, combined with rising feed, fuel and labor costs, has led to more than doubling of egg prices in the US over the past year, creating a lots of surprises in the supermarket aisles.

The national average price for a dozen eggs reached $4.25 in December, up from $1.78 a year earlier, according to the latest government data.

Customs data through January 17 shows that the number of eggs seized has increased 91% in the El Paso, Texas field office, 301% in Laredo, Texas, 333% in Tucson, Arizona, and 368 % in San Diego, California, compared to the same period last year.

Bringing eggs into the US from Mexico is illegal and has led to an increase in the number seized at the southern border.

Most of the seized eggs are cartons of 30 eggs that travelers bought for their personal use due to the substantially lower prices in Mexican stores.

Residents of California, Texas, and Arizona who live near the border often buy food at Mexican stores, but some produce, including raw eggs, cannot be imported into the US due to the risk of disease spread. Newcastle and bird flu.

In most cases, people are often unaware of such restrictions with the eggs being confiscated from travelers who declared their purchase to inspectors.

Those who did were not fined, but there have been a few cases where eggs were not declared and travelers received penalties.

The price of eggs in the US has been significantly higher in the past year, with prices in December 60 percent higher than in 2021, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index.

The cost has risen much more than other foods such as chicken or turkey, because egg farmers have been hit hardest by bird flu and the subsequent destruction of chicken flocks.

More than 43 million of the 58 million birds culled last year to control the virus were laying hens, including some farms with more than a million birds each in major egg-producing states like Iowa.

However, there has been some relief for consumers as the wholesale price of eggs has dropped slightly over the past month.

In some places, it can even be hard to find eggs on the shelves. But overall egg supplies are holding up because the total flock is only down 5 percent from its normal size of around 320 million hens.

Farmers have been working to replace their herds as soon as possible after an outbreak.

Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said he believes the bird flu outbreak is the main driver of the price increases. Unlike previous years, the virus persisted throughout the summer and reemerged last fall, infecting poultry and egg farms.

“Avian influenza is not the only factor, but in my opinion it is the main driver of what we are experiencing right now,” Lusk said.

But the president and chief executive of the American Egg Board trade group, Emily Metz, said she believes all the cost increases farmers have faced in the past year were a bigger factor in the price rises than bird flu.

“When you see fuel costs go up, and you see feed costs go up as much as 60 percent, labor costs, packaging costs, all of that…those are far more important factors than bird flu for clear,’ Metz said.

Jada Thomson, an agricultural economist at the University of Arkansas, said there may be some relief in egg prices in the next two months because egg farmers have been steadily replacing their flocks lost to bird flu last year and demand It will slow down a bit now that folks are done with their holiday baking.

But he said bird flu remains a wild card that could still drive up prices if there are larger outbreaks on egg farms.

Farmers are doing everything they can to limit the spread, but the disease is easily spread by migrating wild birds and the virus can be picked up on clothing or vehicles.

“But there are some things that are out of our control,” Thompson said. Sometimes you can’t control nature.