People opting for plastic this Easter as egg prices continue to increase, report says

As Easter approaches, more people are opting for plastic as the prices of eggs continue to rise.

U.S. Bureau of Labor data shows egg prices peaked in January at $4.82.

The national average retail price of a dozen eggs hit $4.25 in December, up from $1.79 a year earlier, according to the report.

The spike in egg prices have been fueled by the millions of chickens that were slaughtered to limit the spread of Avian Flu and farmers having to compensate for inflation driving up their costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Roughly 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to help control Avian Flu have been egg-laying chickens, according to a report.

The size of the total flock has only been down 5 to 6 percent at any one time from its normal size of about 320 million hens, the report stated.

Since the virus surfaced last February, tens of millions of farm-raised birds in the U.S. have died, and eggs have seen skyrocketing prices.


About the Author:

Ryan Mackey is a Digital Journalist at WPLG. He was born in Long Island, New York, and has lived in Sunrise, Florida since 1994.