The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report last month predicting egg prices will increase 41.1% this year, along with a 3.4% general increase for the prices of all food. Retail egg prices increased 13.8% in January 2025, on top of an 8.4% increase in December 2024, the agency said.

America's current spike in egg prices has quickly become one of the central public policy issues of early 2025. But while the emphasis in much of the media and amongst policymakers has focused on the epidemiology patterns of the avian flu,