By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
Are we in an egg crisis? Recent news stories online have made it seem like we may be having an egg shortage, egg price inflation, and/or egg supply chain issues. The Morning Star looked into the situation in the Jackson County area, and here is what we found.
At Polly’s Market in Vandercook Lake, they do have several varieties of eggs and sizes available, ranging from $3.75/dozen to $5.95/dozen.
At the Aldi store on E. Michigan Avenue, their eggs are $5.09/dozen, but shoppers are limited to two cartons only.
At the Walmart store on W. Michigan Avenue, as of Feb. 15, the egg shelves were largely unstocked, but prices online for grocery pickup say that the generic Walmart brand, ‘Great Value’ cage-free large white eggs are $5.23/dozen.
At either Meijer store in Jackson, eggs are in stock (according to their website); the basic ‘Meijer Cage Free Grade-A Large Eggs’ costs $4.99/dozen.
Superior Street mercantile in Albion is another local business dealing with the rising cost of eggs. “Our main distributor has a number of different egg options that have slowly dried up over the last few months due to bird flu,” said Joe Verbeke, acting manager. “We’ve seen cases of 15 dozen upwards of $110 or more! If you do the math, that’s a cost of $7.33 before we try to make any profit. It’s crazy out there right now. I probably spend 20 minutes each week looking for a single case of eggs so we can get eggs on our shelves at a price point that is reasonable for what feels like an unreasonable time.”
According to Fox News, egg prices have risen 53% since January 2024, and there was another 15% rise this January.
According to The Independent newspaper, “Nationwide,” the average cost of a dozen Grade A eggs was $4.95 in January 2025 – that’s a 15 percent increase from prices in December 2024. Eggs have dramatically fluctuated in price over the last four years due to the avian flu outbreak and inflation.”
According to United Egg Producers, an industry organization doing business as Egg Farmers of America, “U.S. egg production totaled 92.6 billion in 2022, a 3% decrease from 2021…. On average, each laying hen produces 300 eggs per year.” Michigan ranks #7 in the top 10 egg producing states in the U.S. Current data on egg production was covered in the UEP January 2025 conference (in Atlanta).
“A significant portion of the meeting centered on the ongoing challenges of HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza; aka Bird flu), emphasizing strategies to mitigate its spread within the egg industry. UEP staff and consultants assured the board that proactive measures are being taken to address the situation and previewed the strike team plans.”
Strike Teams are small, designated groups of USDA scientists who act quickly on premises to identify, prevent, and research a disease outbreak or spread within poultry, cattle, fish, or other agricultural crops or products.
According to a white paper from the USDA, entitled, “2024 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) – Michigan Dairy Herd and Poultry Flock Summary”:
“Dairy cattle from an HPAI affected dairy premises in Texas – non-clinical and undetected at the time of the cattle movement – were shipped to Michigan, arriving on March 8, 2024. Clinical signs were first observed in the premises’ resident cattle on March 20, 2024. On April 1, 2024, a commercial poultry premises reported clinical signs associated with HPAI. The flock was confirmed infected on April 2, 2024.”
Then, later in April 2024, the “Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) invited a USDA epidemiological strike team into Michigan to investigate the links between HPAI affected dairy premises and evidence of spillover into poultry premises.” In the end, eight Michigan premises poultry flocks were studied in this paper.
By January 2025, the bird flu had killed over 20 million egg-laying chickens, with 148 million chickens having been euthanized since 2022 due to HPAI, according to CBS News.
According to Lucas Smolcic Larson, a reporter at M-Live, the avian flu has also affected wild bird populations in Michigan, including 77 Canada geese dying in Allegan County, 80 geese in Shiawassee County, 25 geese in Ingham County, and 20 waterfowl in Eaton County.
What does this all mean for our local Jackson and Calhoun communities? Yes, egg prices have risen to what many would consider abnormally high levels. But does this mean that eggs are now cost prohibitive or even a luxury food item? Yes, the price of eggs has been affected by the spread of HPAI. If there are fewer hens to lay eggs, but the demand and consumption of eggs has remained steady or increasing, then the price of those eggs must rise. But not forever.
Virginia Coney Island on E. Michigan Avenue in Jackson serves a lot of eggs throughout the day. It’s one of Jackson’s favorite restaurants, and a regular on the Top 5 Coneys in Michigan rankings. Nestled near the Amtrak train station, the restaurant was established in 1941 as a small diner and coffee shop. Today, its menu offers such delights as the Coney Island Scram – a mixture to three large eggs, ham, onions, peppers, cheese, with fries and toast – all for $12.25. The menu also lists a cheese omelette (x3 eggs) for $7.00.
A server at the restaurant said that they are charging an extra 25 cents per egg order, and “it’s on our menu and waitresses tell customers [about the price increase].” General Manager Krista C. added that customers are understanding about egg prices and it’s not hurting orders or business.
The Waffle House chain announced earlier this month that it is levying a 50 cents surcharge per egg, on menu items that feature eggs as not an inherent ingredient (like in pancake batter), but as a labeled ingredient like Eggs Benedict; this means that your normal scrambled eggs (x2) + waffles platter is going to cost a dollar or so more, approximately $7.75, according to AP.
