The nationwide bird flu epidemic has caused the culling of approximately 40 million chickens and turkeys and affected at least 10 percent of the country’s egg supply, although its impact thus far seems mostly to be limited to large industrial farms.
The seemingly unstoppable H5N2 avian flu outbreak has already caused a spike in grocery store prices, leaving agricultural experts to predict an egg shortage and empty coolers where poultry should have been.
The virus has now been confirmed on farms in 16 states and in Canada as well – but the figures are still growing.
“I can’t tell you how many farmers this is affecting,” Oscar Garrison, director of food safety for United Egg Producers, which represents the ownership of 95 percent of egg-laying hens, told The Washington Post. “It’s been absolutely devastating. Just abysmal.”
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