Over 750,000 laying hens were killed in October alone to stop the spread of bird flu
The bird flu epidemic, as well as rising production costs, has left Britain facing an acute shortage of hens’ eggs. This has forced a number of supermarkets to limit sales to three packs per customer per day.
There are also restrictions in restaurants, and in some places dishes with eggs have been removed from the menu and replaced with others. At the same time, the price of poultry products in stores has risen dramatically, and the National Farmers Union has called on the Department of Agriculture to investigate problems in the supply chains.
According to the Free Range Egg Producers Association, more than 750,000 laying hens were killed in October alone to stop the spread of the bird flu virus. On November 7, veterinary authorities ordered all birds to be kept indoors after more than 200 cases of the infection had been reported to date, the largest such outbreak in the UK to date. The Christmas dinner of many Britons is also threatened, as the affected farms include turkey farms, where around 11 million birds were killed.
Farmers’ organizations also accuse traders of not paying appropriate prices to farmers for eggs, despite shortages and increased demand around the Christmas holidays. Producers’ calculations show that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, fodder has risen in price by 50%, and energy by 40%. Nearly 30% of farmers have already reduced production or stopped their activities.
Last year, 11.3 billion eggs were produced on the Island, another billion and a half were imported from abroad. Consumption was 202 eggs per capita.