Fast-food breakfast sandwich fans be warned: it could be higher not to place all of your eggs in a single basket. McDonald’s has cut its breakfast service by an hour and a half, ending it at 10:30am as an alternative of 12pm in its Australian branches as a result of egg shortages brought on by bird flu.
“Like many retailers, we are carefully managing egg supplies due to the current challenges in the industry,” McDonald’s said in a Facebook post“We are working hard with our Australian farmers and suppliers to get the situation back to normal as quickly as possible.”
The fast food chain, affectionately generally known as Macca’s on the opposite side of the Date Line, has 970 locations in AustraliaBut it just isn’t just fast-food fans who’re affected by the shortage. Australian supermarket chain Coles Group Ltd. began restricting its customers’ purchases to 2 cartons of eggs a day after the highly contagious H7N3 bird flu (a special strain of H5N1 flu that just isn’t present in Australia) was detected on five farms on the continent. Since the virus first spread in May, the flu has affected 11 poultry farmsmainly egg farms.
To contain the spread of the disease, which might be fatal to livestock, including cows, poultry farms have quarantined their animals and carried out mass euthanasia on over half one million chickens. Around 450,000 eggs are destroyed each day to contain the virus. That may sound like big numbers, but industry experts say an important meal of the day just isn’t yet at risk.
“Consumers can be assured that there are still over 20 million chickens in the care of hundreds of egg farmers across Australia who will continue to work hard to ensure eggs are on the shelves,” said Rowan McMonnies, chief executive of industry group Australian Eggs. said last week.
What about typical American fast food?
Bird flu has also caused chaos within the United States, although fast-food breakfasts are currently secure. From February 2022 to June of this 12 months, 96 million backyard and farm birds died nationwide from bird flu. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the country’s largest egg producer, 1.6 million laying hens killedalmost 4% of its herd, and temporarily suspended operations in April after bird flu was detected.
For most Americans, the looming epidemic can have no impact on eating habits. US health officials tested milk sold in stores to Look for traces of the viruswhich ultimately told consumers that milk must be pasteurized before consumption. Hamburgers cooked between 145 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit were also found to be harmlessin addition to boiled chicken and eggs.
Although these staples pose no health threat, U.S. consumers are feeling the impact on their wallets as egg prices have risen by over 15% from January to April, to $2.99 for a dozen large Grade A eggs, in response to Data from the Bureau of Labor StatisticsWhile mass euthanasia ensures the security of bird populations, it also makes the population useful because replacing lost birds is time-consuming.
“They take away all egg production for up to three months at a time,” says Andrew Stevens, an agricultural economist on the University of Wisconsin. told CBS MoneyWatch“You are paying for the delay time required to get production back up and running.”
While fast-food menus within the U.S. have been affected by egg and livestock shortages, changes are creeping into the industry. Chick-fil-a began to maneuver away from its Promise “never antibiotics” in March and as an alternative adopted an industry standard that requires the usage of antibiotics only when a chicken needs treatment for illness, following the lead of poultry giants Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson Foods, which try to keep up the health of their chickens kept in cramped quarters amid rampant disease.
While the industry strives to convey a way of stability, McDonald’s has assured customers that certain items on the menu won’t ever change.
“PS,” McDonald’s Facebook post said. “Hash Browns are still available all day.”
