Chicken producers say their eggs could help reduce soaring US prices

U.S. chicken producers want to do their part to bring down current soaring egg prices by selling their 400 million surplus eggs to food producers.

But first they have to convince the FDA to change the rule that prevents eggs laid by chickens in the meat industry to be used for human consumption.

Egg prices have surged over the past year thanks to the ongoing bird flu outbreak and the highest inflation in decades, prompting calls for a price-gouging investigation. The national average retail price of a dozen eggs hit $4.25 in December, up from $1.79 a year earlier, according to the latest government data.

The National Chicken Council trade group submitted a formal petition to the Food and Drug Administration Thursday asking officials to drop a rule passed in 2009 that keeps chicken producers from selling their excess eggs because they aren’t refrigerated right away.

“Already faced with record egg prices, consumers might be hit even harder in their wallets as we head into the Easter season unless FDA provides us with a pathway to put these eggs to good use,” said Ashley Peterson, the trade group’s senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.

The bird flu outbreak has had an outsized impact on egg prices because more than 43 million of the 58 million birds that have been slaughtered to help control the spread of the virus have been egg-laying hens. But egg farmers have also been grappling with high feed, fuel and labor costs that have contributed to the rising prices.

It’s not clear exactly how big of an impact the eggs chicken producers want to sell might have on prices because there are roughly 100 billion eggs a year produced in the U.S., so adding 400 million more to the market may not have a huge effect.