[caption id="attachment_28777" align="alignnone" width="1080"] A sign for customers shopping for eggs at Trader Joe’s hangs by the cartons in Merrick, N.Y., on Feb. 16, 2025. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters[/caption]

By Rachel Acenas. Media: Theepochtimes

Egg prices in the U.S. have dipped since the Trump administration unveiled a plan to combat bird flu and reduce costs, according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday. “A good piece of news that we just got in the last day or two is that the average cost of a dozen eggs has now gone down $1.85 since we announced our plan about a week-and-a-half ago,” Rollins told reporters outside the White House. Despite this recent dip, Rollins acknowledged that prices could rise again due to high demand during the Easter season. The White House on Tuesday celebrated the good news but acknowledged that combating costs is a long-term effort. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the agriculture secretary was being “honest and realistic with the American people” regarding egg prices. “It will take about three to six months to get the egg supply back where it should be,” Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing. The dip in prices comes after Rollins on Feb. 26 unveiled a $1 billion strategy to fight avian flu and reduce egg prices. According to Rollins, the five-pronged strategy includes an additional $500 million for biosecurity measures, $400 million in financial relief for affected farmers, and $100 million for vaccine research. The USDA is also working to reduce regulatory burdens and explore temporary import options. The combination of inflation and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has caused egg prices to rise more than 350 percent per dozen compared to this time last year. Popular breakfast chains such as Waffle House and Denny’s have added temporary egg surcharges in recent weeks. There have also been reports of egg shortages at some grocery stores. Experts say consumer “panic buying” could also contribute to the shortage. Avian flu has affected over 100 million birds since 2022, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. In order to contain its spread, poultry farms have had to cull their contaminated flocks. Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, praised USDA’s strategy to combat avian flu. “We appreciate USDA’s blueprint for tackling avian influenza,” Duvall wrote in a statement. “America’s farmers are committed to ensuring a safe and abundant food supply, and these investments to advance biosecurity and research will further equip them to combat the threat of HPAI. Additionally, efforts to prevent state and federal trade and regulatory barriers that unfairly hit consumers’ pocketbooks will benefit all Americans.”