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Toot

Written by Stuart Celarier on 2024-12-31 at 23:59

This is the nearly empty egg display at my local grocery store on New Year's Eve. Granted, the store was packed with people in mid afternoon and low on some other items like bread. Still I think we're looking at a combination of farmers struggling with H5N1 and potentially shoppers hoarding what remains.

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Written by Nathan Arthur on 2025-01-01 at 00:37

@VisualStuart huh - I’ve seen the same thing, but I just assumed it was holiday cooking zeal. Has H5N1 really caused that much disruption?

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Written by Stuart Celarier on 2025-01-01 at 00:44

@narthur I don't know, but it sounds pretty dire already.

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/bird-flu-spread-cattle-poultry-pandemic-cdc/

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Written by Nathan Arthur on 2025-01-01 at 00:54

@VisualStuart that’s mostly about cattle. It looks like egg production is down about 4% and prices are way up. So the shortages are probably more about cooking zeal.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bird-flu-drives-us-egg-prices-all-time-highs-before-christmas-2024-12-20/

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Written by Stuart Celarier on 2025-01-01 at 20:56

@narthur I would say that article is mostly about the abject failure by local, state, and federal authorities to protect the health of the people and the safety of the food supply, but it is also about food suppliers -- poultry and dairy farmers -- being unwilling to test or report on a clearly spreading virus out of fear of retribution and potential loss of profits.

And you're right, there is price gouging in the face of an impending crisis.

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Written by Cat West on 2025-01-01 at 23:30

@narthur @VisualStuart bird flu is taking out chickens, mainly because they are all jammed into small crowded pens.

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Written by Stuart Celarier on 2025-01-02 at 03:41

@Catawu @narthur Bird flu is taking out wild birds, and is especially spread by migratory birds: no cages involved. From there it is transferred to poultry farms. I understand one element of the current H5N1 virus is that it's highly infectious among birds. I agree that caged birds in poultry farms doesn't help matters, but it's not clear that uncaged, free range chickens would do much better once infected.

Counties in which bird flu has been detected in wild birds. https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/data-map-wild-birds.html

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Written by Cat West on 2025-01-02 at 10:16

@VisualStuart @narthur Bird Flu is ravaging chicken/Turkey farms as well. Please go away. You sound like a real jerk.

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