Photo taken with a mobile phone on Feb. 10, 2025 shows a customer shopping for eggs at a Costco store in Azusa, Los Angeles County, California, the United States. More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues. (Xinhua/Gao Shan)
by Wen Tsui, Gao Shan
SACRAMENTO, the United States, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues.
At a Costco store in San Jose, California, the warehouse has been limiting purchases to three cartons per customer since Saturday, according to a store employee named Pauline. By late morning on Tuesday, only 15 cartons remained -- all higher-priced organic brown and green eggs, with no white eggs available. The store has posted the sales limit sign at the entrance, effective Tuesday.
"You need to come early to make sure you can buy eggs," Marcie Lopez, a customer at the store, told Xinhua, noting that eggs are getting more expensive and harder to buy this year.
"No eggs, no eggs, no eggs," a clerk at another Costco store in Azusa, California, told the people waiting in line just after the location opened on Monday morning.
"It's unbelievable, we came so early in the morning, but we still couldn't buy eggs," a customer, who gave her name as Luna, told Xinhua.
The rising prices and empty shelves are fueling consumer anxiety. Social media platforms like TikTok are flooded with videos of shoppers rushing to grab eggs, sometimes emptying freshly stocked shelves in minutes. One viral video from a Costco store showed eggs being snapped up in less than 10 minutes, with customers grabbing eggs by the hundreds.
Nationwide, retailers are scrambling to manage dwindling supplies. Trader Joe's has implemented a one-dozen limit per customer per day across all of its over 600 U.S. locations.
"Due to ongoing issues with the supply of eggs, we kindly ask you to limit your purchase to 1 dozen of any kind," wrote a Trader Joe's store in Monrovia in a sign for customers shopping for eggs, noting that "we hope to have ample supply soon. Until then, we appreciate your understanding."
Whole Foods has capped purchases at three cartons per shopper, while Kroger stores are limiting customers to two dozen eggs per trip.
Other major chains have followed suit. Sprouts has implemented a four-dozen limit per visit, Giant Eagle is asking customers to limit purchases to three cartons per transaction, and Market Basket stores in Massachusetts are restricting egg purchases to two cartons per family.
In California, a Safeway supermarket in Santa Clara has been limiting customers to two dozen per visit for the past month. An employee, who called himself John, explained to Xinhua that the store doesn't receive daily egg deliveries, instead stocking twice daily -- at 7 a.m. and noon -- to spread out availability. Even with these measures, eggs typically sell out by late afternoon.
The restrictions come as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to impact egg-laying flocks nationwide. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Eggs Markets Overview report published on Friday, more than 150 million poultry birds have been killed in attempts to combat the H5N1 virus, causing egg prices to soar and supplies to dwindle.
The national trading price for graded, loose, white large shell eggs has risen to 7.34 U.S. dollars per dozen, while the California wholesale price for cage-free large shell eggs has reached 9.11 dollars per dozen. The report expects the supply situation to remain tight, with little chance for near-term improvement.
As a result, many grocers are limiting promotional activities and implementing purchase restrictions to stretch existing supplies.
"Due to recent market conditions, egg prices have increased. We apologize for any inconvenience," wrote an Aldi store in Monrovia in a sign inside the shop, adding that "due to supply challenges, eggs are limit 2 per customer."
Some retailers are maintaining high prices to dampen demand, and egg product manufacturers have increased their demand, leading to sharp price advances in the spot market.
USDA predicts egg prices will increase about 20 percent in 2025, far outpacing the projected 2.2 percent increase in overall food prices. The prices in December 2024 were already 36.8 percent higher than the previous year, according to USDA data.
Saloni Vastani, an associate professor of marketing at Emory University, told USA Today that the shortage is being exacerbated by consumer behavior.
"Egg prices are going up because of the avian flu, but that's driving people to buy more eggs than they usually do because they're anticipating higher prices and reduced grocery store supply," Vastani explained.
The impact has extended to restaurants as well. Waffle House, which serves approximately 272 million eggs annually, recently implemented a 50-cent per egg surcharge across its roughly 2,100 U.S. locations. ■
Photo taken with a mobile phone on Feb. 12, 2025 shows customers shopping for eggs at a Trader Joe's store in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California, the United States. More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)
Photo taken with a mobile phone on Feb. 10, 2025 shows signs of eggs sold out at a Costco store in Monterey Park, Los Angeles County, California, the United States. More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)
Photo taken with a mobile phone on Feb. 12, 2025 shows customers shopping for eggs at an Aldi store in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California, the United States. More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)
Photo taken with a mobile phone on Feb. 12, 2025 shows a sign about egg purchase restriction at an Aldi store in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California, the United States. More U.S. grocery chains are implementing egg purchase limits as bird flu outbreaks continue to disrupt supplies, with California shoppers particularly feeling the squeeze through restricted purchases and early morning queues. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)
