US to import egg products from Netherlands to ease shortage

Source: AP

By DAVID PITT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — With an increasing egg shortage due to the widespread bird flu outbreak, the United States will soon allow imported egg products from the Netherlands to be used for commercial baking and in processed foods.

It's the first time in more than a decade the U.S. has bought eggs from a European nation, and comes as consumers are seeing a surge in shell egg prices and a Texas-based supermarket began limiting purchases.

Generally, the U.S. produces enough eggs to meet domestic supply and export more than 30 million dozen eggs a month to trade partners including Mexico and Canada, the largest buyers. But the H5N2 virus — which began to spread widely through Midwest farms in the early spring, including in Iowa, the nation's largest egg producer — has left nearly 47 million birds dead or dying.

About 35 million were egg-laying hens that provided 80 percent of the eggs for the breaker market — eggs broken then liquefied, dried or frozen to be used in processed foods like mayonnaise and pancake mixes or sold to bakeries to make cakes, cookies and other products. Because there are fewer chickens laying eggs, a third of the supply for companies buying egg products has disappeared in just a few weeks.

FULL story at link.



This undated photo provided by Katie Coyle shows eggs on a conveyor belt coming in from an Iowa chicken house. The bird flu outbreak has caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve importing egg products from the Netherlands to be used for baking and in processed foods. A third of the supply disappeared in recent weeks because of the H5N2 virus which spread through Midwest egg farms including many in Iowa, the nation’s leading egg producer. (Katie Coyle/Iowa Egg Council via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2a300ad1f79040a8a2fb4462dc463782/us-import-egg-products-netherlands-ease-shortage