CHICAGO, March 7, 2025 — Operators and suppliers will be waiting a long time before sky-high egg prices fall back to pre-shortage levels, according to a presenter at this year’s COEX conference.
“We’re going to be in this for a while,” said Nate Hedtke, Vice President of Innovation & Customer Engagement for the American Egg Board, the marketing organization for domestic producers. “It’s going to take us into 2026.”
Flocks of laying hens continue to be infected with avian flu, requiring the whole populations of poultry farms to be destroyed. “We have not gone a week yet without a new detection,” said Hedtke.
About 126 million egg-producing hens have been destroyed because of the epidemic, according to Hedtke. That’s out of a usual population of 320 million birds.
Even more problematic, said Hedtke, is a shortage of chicks, known in the trade as pullets, to replace the lost hens, Hedtke added. After the last outbreak of avian flu, farmers could draw from a larger population of young birds.
“This is a 12-month recovery,” said Hedtke. “And the goal post keeps getting pushed back.”
He noted that the federal government has revealed a five-point, $1-billion strategy for countering the shortage of eggs. Those steps include importing more eggs on a temporary basis and longer-range remedies like helping chicken farmers to better protect their flocks.
“We are optimistic, now that we’re getting support from the government, but it’s going to take some time,” Hedtke told the packed meeting room.
He explained, “There are a lot of things that need to get figured out about all 5 of those steps.” The Trump Administration said it intends to form study groups to evaluate the potential remedies.
The positive development, he said to the crowd, is a weakening of consumer demand for eggs, which had been “really, really” strong, said Hedtke. “In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen that starting to slow.”
While the supply of eggs slowly rebounds, the Egg Board is working with groups from the food-away-from-home industry to temper consumer dismay. Hedtke said the group has partnered with other trade associations to explain the situation to customers via in-store signage and social media.
As Managing Editor for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, Romeo is responsible for generating the group's news and feature content. He brings more than 40 years of experience in covering restaurants to the position.