Eggs - a luxury?

“It has been the worst the last two years, but specifically this year in my entire working time with eggs, I have seen that the situation is completely out of control in terms of egg supplies to industry. I classify the current situation as ‘Covid’ of hens,” reports Pankaj Pancholi, director of Leicester-based Just Egg Ltd.

“BFREPA (British Free Range Egg Producers Association) estimates that the total amount of laying hens taken out of production due to the HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) epidemic 2021/2022 were as follows.”

“This has a profound impact on the supply chain. We were importing from the EU at a reasonable rate to keep our customers supplied with egg products until the change in government and appointment of Liz Truss as our PM and the ambitious budget, which resulted in our sterling falling to an extent that we were unable to buy egg from EU countries either. Since then, we have never recovered from the shortage of raw material, as we saw more and more cases of AI in October wiping out more layers and getting worse as the days pass by.

“We have increased our prices to our customers but cannot keep increasing the price of our egg products as the raw material price being offered to us is not tenable and we cannot keep passing the increases to our customers to a point that a sandwich, or any product using eggs, becomes impossible for sale to the general public.

“As a business, we have started to ration our customers with the raw material we have, but a point has now come where we are at standstill due to unavailability of eggs in the market at a reasonable price. Do we increase the price once more? I don’t want to, as egg is a basic, affordable and highly nutritious protein, and not a luxury commodity. The current market situation may force us, but will we have buyers?

“I have also been told by my customers that they will take out all egg-based sandwiches temporarily until the price starts to ease. This situation is worrying, as an egg-based sandwich is the most basic sandwich in a range, and in the current climate of cost of living, we should be offering basic sandwiches at a reasonable price and not to make a ‘luxury’ item.

“I believe the industry is considering vaccinating the hens in order to save them from AI, and may be that will be the answer going forward, but for the next few months the situation will worsen before it starts to improve. Only time will tell. Truly this is Covid for the poultry community.”

Mandatory housing measures for all poultry and captive birds were introduced to all areas of England from 00:01 on Monday 7 November, following a decision by Christine Middlemiss, the United Kingdom’s chief veterinary officer, the government announced in a press statement at the end of October. The housing measures legally require all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size.

The order will extend the mandatory housing measures already in force in the hot spot area of Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Essex to the whole of England following an increase in the national risk of bird flu in wild birds to very high.

Over the last year, the United Kingdom has faced its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza with over 200 cases confirmed since late October 2021. The introduction of the housing measures comes after the disease was detected at over 70 premises since the beginning of October, as well as multiple reports in wild birds.

“We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England. The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice,” said Christine Middlemiss.

“Scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks in all ways, from wild birds remain the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from Monday 7 November onwards you must keep your indoors. This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.”

The new housing measures build on the strengthened biosecurity measures that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) earlier in October. The AIPZ means that all bird keepers need to take extra precautions, such as restricting access for non-essential people on site, ensuring workers change clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures and cleaning and disinfecting vehicles regularly to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

The statement added that the UK Health Security Agency also continues to advise that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency advice remains unchanged, that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

In reaction to this move, a BEIC (British Egg Information Council) spokesperson stated: “We are pleased that the government has taken action to protect the health of hens by ensuring they are temporarily housed. We are proud of the high standards of British free-range farms and, alongside the housing order, we will continue to work with producers to maintain the highest standards of biosecurity to ensure that birds are protected from avian influenza.

“All free-range hen houses are designed to stock birds in the same numbers as barn hens, who live permanently inside similar barns. Birds are free to roam around the house and have nesting boxes, perching areas and scratching areas. They have continuous access to feed and water. Producers will be spending time with their birds and will make sure they have some additional activities, for example hanging items like hay nets for them to play with, to ensure that their welfare is not affected while they adapt.”