What is going on with America’s food supply?

An egg farm in Ohio announced that it is about to kill 1.3 million chickens.

Why?

Because avian flu was detected.

Keep in mind that not all 1.3 million chickens have the flu.

It was just detected.

But out of an abundance of precaution, 1.3 million chickens will be slaughtered.

This is set to disrupt the food supply and could potentially trigger higher egg prices in the coming weeks and months.

This news comes after a year of farms being set on fire across the nation.

It appears that all of the fires were unrelated.

But it still had an impact on food prices.

ABC News confirms:

More than 1.3 million chickens are being slaughtered on an Ohio egg farm as the bird flu continues to take a toll on the industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said all 1.35 million chickens on the farm in Ohio’s Union County will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious virus after a case was confirmed in the flock this week.

The outbreak that began in early 2022 has been much less severe this year as fewer cases of the virus are being found among the wild birds that spread it. But there have still been 8.1 million birds killed this year to help control the spread of the disease and 5.8 million of those have come just this month as several large egg farms have been struck. That includes 1.2 million birds at one Iowa egg farm and another 940,000 chickens at one Minnesota egg farm that had to be killed.

Did you catch that?

“A case was confirmed.”

This suggests that it was only one.

We understand the need for caution.

But how was avian flu able to get into the farm?

Why don’t we have better measures to prevent and detect this?

And why is the only solution to kill so many innocent lives?

This news comes at a time when inflation is red hot.

Consumers are paying more than ever before.

Many Americans have to work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet.

Nerd Wallet suggests that egg prices are likely to rise again:

Eggs became so expensive because of a widespread outbreak of H5N1, a highly transmissible and fatal strain of avian influenza, or bird flu. This outbreak started in early 2022 and grew into the largest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.

So the outbreak lowered egg supply, while demand remained consistent. That’ll naturally raise prices.

In recent months, the number of cases has largely been declining, helping to ease egg prices. Still, poultry experts are holding their breath amid the current fall migration season (during which wild birds can spark another outbreak among poultry), hoping there isn’t a spike in cases.

Even though COVID is over, we’re still not back to pre-pandemic prices.

Eggs are more expensive.

Dairy is more expensive.

Everything is more expensive.

And the slaughter of 1.3 million chickens will only make things worse.

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