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As if we didn't have enough reason to distrust our egg supply (remember the recall in November?), now we know why prices have gone up. And grocery wholesalers are suing.
Word is, four industry trade groups -- United Egg Producers, United Egg Association, United States Egg Marketers and the Missouri Egg Council -- conspired to manipulate supply to increase demand, thereby falsely inflating the price of eggs in the U.S. The prominent egg producers include Land O'Lakes, Cal-Maine Foods, Hillandale Farms and Ohio Fresh Eggs, among 14 others, according to a press release sent out by prosecuting firm Stueve Siegel Hanson, representing Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc, among six others.
In order to cut down on supply, producers allegedly agreed to kill off hens, which resulted in at least a 40 percent increase in egg prices in 2008, reports the L.A. Times from the following civil complaint filed by Sodexo Inc. The trade groups also increased exports (to further dwindle U.S. supply) and reduced the number of hens per cage, which they marketed as a move towards animal health. That's just wrong.
The plan is said to have gone down as early as 1999, says The Kansas City Star (home of the lawsuit), and since then, egg prices have more than doubled, with a peak of $2.20 per dozen in March 2008 from $1 a dozen in March 2002.
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1-12-2011 @6:55PM Michael Schmitt said... "The trade groups also... reduced the number of hens per cage, which they marketed as a move towards animal health. That's just wrong."
For a food blog that advocates buying local and knowing where your food comes from, the above statement flies in the face of what Slashfood tries to stand for...
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1-17-2011 @7:05PM TheEggMan said... I want my money back! There must be 10,000 lawyers ready for a mass torte. Sign me up.
While you are at it; these "drug shortages" they have been reporting on in America. Well? Supply and demand.
1-12-2011 @8:25PM Brock Rhodes said... I totally agree with Michael Schmitt. I'm willing to pay more for lowering the total number of hens (thus decreasing the insane amount of toxic chicken manure produced by poultry factory farms) and limiting the number of chickens per cage, which is better for health of the chicken. It is smart of them to agree to do it together so none of them go out of business cleaning up their operation a little bit. I hope soon they agree to go further.
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1-12-2011 @9:24PM Jena said... $2.20/dozen? Wow. Where I live they've been about $5/dozen for the last few years.
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1-17-2011 @6:39PM Jim said... wow jenna, where do you live?
1-17-2011 @4:18PM Janice said... $5/doz, holy cow! Are you buying Eggland or a brand like that, or organic, or just regular white eggs? Let it be known that the cost of the feed is going up, both corn & soybean meal. Right now
it costs me more to feed my dairy cows & calves than I'm getting in milk checks, it scares me too death & it has affected all dairy producers, both large & small.
1-13-2011 @1:54PM Brenna said... I agree whole-heartedly with the above commenters! Mass egg producers have been treating their chickens inhumanely forever, that's why it became normal to buy a dozen eggs for $0.99. That's less than a pack of gum. Ridiculous! Just because people like cheap eggs does not mean that the means to the end are justified. Reduce the number of hens per cage, or even better, get rid of the cages all together!
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1-13-2011 @3:37PM yeager12 said... I agree. Think how healthy everyone would be if we could only eat fresh fruit and veggies. No one needs meat, pasta or desserts. Outlawing wheat would help a lot also; that would do away with bread that is a major source of fat. No one except infants need milk. Cheese and butter just clog our arteries. So if the government really wants to help everyone get thin and stay healthy, all they have to do is outlaw any food except the fruit and vegetables and they could put millions of people more out of work by closing all grocery stores and making people grow their own.
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1-13-2011 @3:54PM Robin said... yeager12 - since when is bread a major source of fat? Wheat has no fat in it.
1-17-2011 @3:15PM SueT said... Wheat turns to sugar in your body, releasing insulin, which tells your body to store it as fat. has nothing to do with the fat IN wheat.
1-17-2011 @11:52AM cathy said... Makes me wish I had a little land and could raise of few hens of my own, thereby cutting out this phony supply and demand stuff. Ditto for our gasoline supplies which we all know manipulated. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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1-17-2011 @7:10PM Em said... I thought the same thing, then realized that I could have a small flock of hens in my backyard. It's simple, really - backyard hens=healthy eggs for my family. I never have to wonder if my eggs are safe. Plus, they taste SO much better than factory eggs!
Take a look at my (old) blog about it - www.wfchickens.blogspot.com
1-18-2011 @12:14AM Pam said... You don't need a lot of land to raise chickens - check out this website for more information: www.backyardchickens.com You can raise chickens on a balcony! I've even wintered some over in my house, but they raise a lot of dust from the food and shavings - I don't recommend this. Free range chicken eggs are the best, but you can get the same results from "deck chickens" by feeding them fresh greens, orange veggies (I bake sweet potatoes for mine in the winter), fruit, and insects (from pet stores). Chickens are cool!
1-17-2011 @2:10PM iamthewalrus said... if crowding chickens like an immigrant apartment will lower the cost of my egg habit i am all for it. i will not apologize for being at the top of the food chain. man didn't evolve from his ability to sneak up on a carrot. enough, i'll be late for my seal beating class.
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1-17-2011 @2:18PM dj said... E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G ALWAYS "OVER-INFLATES" WHEN THE DEMS "TAKE OVER"...DUE TO THEIR "COMPENSATION-SHARING PROGRAMS" WE MUST EVENTUALLY "PAY FOR"...WHY DO WE THINK THEY'VE BEEN IN SUCH A "FRENZY" TO "SHOVE ALL THIS STUFF THE PAST 2 YRS. DOWN OUR THROATS"??? THEY K-N-E-W WE WOULD N-O-T "TAKE IT LIGHTLY"! THEY ARE ALSO WORKING "FRANTICALLY" AS WE SPEAK...("CAS SUNSTEIN", ETC.)...TO "FUNDAMENTALLY C-H-A-N-G-E AS MUCH M-O-R-E AS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE NEXT "PREZ ELECTION"
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1-17-2011 @7:02PM Cheryl said... You couldn't be more wrong. Take a look at the history of gasoline prices and take special note under whose administrations the cost of gas was previously the highest. -------http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html
1-20-2011 @2:41PM Bill said... C-a-n y-o-u s-a-y, "Re-t-a-r-d-e-d?"
1-17-2011 @2:40PM catherine pierce said... egg prices are rising along with everything else because The Fed is printing and diluting our dollar. is this okay with everyone???
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1-17-2011 @2:51PM Sennen said... Ironically, the tag following that for this article said "Make chicken an elegant meal". Almost made it sound as if elegant chicken meals might have something to do with eggs.
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1-17-2011 @2:58PM MAGOOS said... Could it be that hens have demanded universal suffrage and are currently threatening a Marxist take over of their miserable batteries? Cheap eggs means horrendous exploitation of the feckless fowl, using forced and unatural means to get the eggs out for $3 a dozen. If humanity had pity on Hettie the hen, they would allow her and her hen party to scratch and meander in open land, to lay a nice brown egg when it became naturally urgent. Then you would pay $10 a dozen!
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