Why Is There an Egg Shortage? A Doctor Breaks It Down

Since the start of the pandemic, we've seen shortages of everything from toilet paper and pasta to infant Tylenol—and now eggs are the latest item disappearing from grocery store shelves.

Family doctor and health expert Dr. Jen Caudle of Sewell, New Jersey explains exactly why this is happening. 

"One of the things behind this is an outbreak of the avian flu — also known as the bird flu," Dr. Jen explains.  

While Rach notes people try to politicize this,” Dr. Jen confirms this isn’t a conspiracy theory. 

"This is a real thing," Dr. Jen says. "It's a highly contagious virus that is often fatal to chickens. And since the outbreak, which was first detected last February, more than 57 million birds have been affected by it, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." 

While Dr. Jen explains that "facilities are being sanitized" and that they are "being restocked with healthy laying hens," she adds that, “it can take four to five months for them to reach peak productivity of about 24 eggs per month. So, in the meantime, we are seeing empty shelves and a rise in prices." 

How expensive exactly? We're talking almost $7 a dozen in Florida — and almost $10 a dozen in Hawaii!  

Rach's response? "We need to be responsible," she says. "We need to take care of things like our farm bill. We need to care about how we raise animals — and how we care about our bodies. We need to be more knowledgeable and more mindful of it, and we need to do that as a country, with our votes and our thoughtfulness."