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KBIA's Harvest Desk covers food and agriculture issues in Missouri and beyond. The desk is a collaboration between KBIA and Harvest Public Media, a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and field. The desk is headed by reporter Kristofor Husted.

After Shortages, US To Allow Egg Imports From Netherlands

Heather Cescent
/
Flickr

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon allow pasteurized egg imports from the Netherlands because of dwindling supplies and higher prices caused by the huge bird flu outbreak in the Midwest.

The trade decision on Monday reflects the ongoing emergency measures taken in light of the largest-ever outbreak of avian flu in the U.S. So far, the virulent strain of H5N2 has been detected at 201 farms in 15 states, triggering the destruction of 44.7 million chickens and turkeys, according to the USDA.

Because the majority of the losses are egg-laying hens, so-called “liquid eggs,” have been most affected. The liquid, frozen and powdered eggs are used in commercial baking for products like bread, cookies and crackers, as well as in restaurants.

The American Bakers Association said last week that it was lobbying USDA and Congress, asking to reinstate imports from the Netherlands, the first country in the European Union to be allowed to sell eggs here. Canada is the only other country the U.S. allows for egg imports.

When the outbreak started effecting the liquid egg industry, the market reacted wildly and suppliers began refusing new contracts and limiting sales, forcing many commercial bakers to look elsewhere, said Cory Martin, a lobbyist with the American Bakers Association.

“We were essentially facing a couple choices,” Martin said. “One is to shut down lines or shut down production altogether. Nobody wants to do that. Or two, find a substitute for eggs.”

Prices for wholesale eggs doubled in May, while prices for shell eggs in grocery stores have also risen. At least one restaurant chain –Whataburger – has announced that it has pared back breakfast hours because of the egg shortage.

Although John Clifford, the U.S. chief veterinary officer, has said he believes the outbreak will wane by mid-summer, when higher temperatures are predicted to help kill the virus, he still anticipates that some 50 million birds will ultimately be destroyed.  Clifford recently told Reuters that he believes “the worst is behind us.”

Further down the food chain, companies expect the worst is yet to come, Martin said.

“To us, losing 50 million hens -- that’s going to make the market react even moreso than it has now and it’s going to be incredibly tight,” he said. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Commercial bakers, agri-business companies and restaurants also fear that the outbreak could grow larger by the fall when migratory birds once again fly south. The current avian flu outbreak is being blamed on wild birds, although U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has admitted that itcouldbe spreading because of humans.

“There’s a very large fear out there and I think the market is reacting to this: that come fall, come next winter, we’re all afraid that the flu is going to come back with a vengeance,” Martin said.

Peggy Lowe joined Harvest Public Media in 2011, returning to the Midwest after 22 years as a journalist in Denver and Southern California. Most recently she was at The Orange County Register, where she was a multimedia producer and writer. In Denver she worked for The Associated Press, The Denver Post and the late, great Rocky Mountain News. She was on the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of Columbine. Peggy was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan in 2008-09. She is from O'Neill, the Irish Capital of Nebraska, and now lives in Kansas City. Based at KCUR, Peggy is the analyst for The Harvest Network and often reports for Harvest Public Media.