Mung bean omelette, anyone? Sky high egg prices crack the open market for options

Americans love eggs. And it is a consuming love. We eat about 280 eggs a year (more than half an egg per day).

But lately, that love has cost us dearly: the price of eggs has almost gone up Three times Since the outbreak of the epidemic and the shortage of eggs has been hitting different parts of the country. That combination has created a rare window of opportunity for alternatives.

Shell-shocked consumers

Most food prices has increased compared to last year And while it has brought much shock and hardship to people across the country, the price of eggs has struck a special chord. Eggs often seem like a cheap, reliable source of protein—a go-to when other things are expensive.

People get emotional when the price of eggs increases.

“This is a hot button for consumers,” says Bill Lapp, president Advanced financial solutions, a food industry consultant. “It’s like driving down the highway and seeing the gas price at $5.30.”

Of course, it’s not just emotional: The price of eggs has risen more than the price of almost anything else in the economy.

the reason? Much of this has to do with the usual suspects: rising energy prices and rising costs for feed, packaging and labor.

With eggs, though, there’s another culprit: the devastating avian flu that killed millions of chickens last year. The supply of eggs in the US has dwindled and eggs are hard to come by in some places.

“A lot of people are worried about not being able to get eggs,” says Ron Kern, a chicken farmer in Nampa, Idaho.

He hears this from his customers: They go to the supermarket and there are no eggs. “These big freezers are empty,” he says. This worries people that eggs may be hard to find.

That eggy outburst gave Kern an idea.

feeding time

core run Forty Farms Behind Nampa, Idaho, where it’s 4 p.m.—time to feed the chickens.

Kern walks into the coop with a bucket of feed and hundreds of chickens rush in from all sides: fluttering down from their roosts, scurrying in from the outside.

As the chickens peck at their food, Ron Kern and his son Tony collect the eggs – a mix of green, blue, white and brown. They are very careful. These eggs are precious. Especially now.

A few years ago, these eggs were packaged in boxes and sold for about $3 a dozen, but these days, most of them go straight into the freeze dryer.

Freeze dried gold dust

Instead of selling fresh eggs, Kern now freeze-dries most of them.

The freeze dryers are about the size of a mini fridge and a row of them hangs in a small building near Kern’s chicken coop.

The eggs that Kern and his son have just collected will be cleaned, cracked, whipped and poured onto cookie sheets that go into the freeze dryer.

Freeze dryers reduce the eggs to a bright yellow powder. “Looks like gold dust,” Kern commented. “I think it’s gold dust, isn’t it?”

The proof is in the profits

Kern charges $20 per dozen for its freeze-dried eggs. He tells me it’s a good deal: eggs weigh almost nothing, keep for decades, lose no nutritional value and come in a little mylar envelope, which is easily stored.

And, more often than not, it gives customers peace of mind: whatever supply chain disasters, deadly flushes, price spikes and scarcity economies can throw at us, they’ll still have their favorite breakfast dish.

The proof is in the profits. Monant Kern started selling his eggs online, with orders coming in from all over the country.

“Demand was crazy,” he recalls. “Every package we put on our online store sold out in 30 seconds. They just … fly off the shelves,” he adds: “I’m not even a sarcastic person, but there you go.”

(Incidentally, anyone Neither are government writers According to reports, the egg seems to be able to resist puns — they’re inappropriate.)

Economics vs. Agonomics

Basic economics tells us that when the price of something rises, people will buy less of it: demand falls.

But agonomics is a different story, says Bill Lapp. Even if the price of eggs goes up, people buy them. This is called ‘inelastic demand’ in economics, meaning that people will buy whatever they want.

Inelastic demand is usually reserved for necessities, such as gasoline, electricity, etc. Eggs are an exception.

“Demand for eggs is very elastic,” says Lapp. “It’s a cheap source of protein, it’s convenient and consumers like to cook their eggs with that shell open. Demand has been slow to change.”

Any interest in mung bean omelette?

Demand may be slow to change, but supply is another story. The situation surrounding eggs in the past few years has created a huge business opportunity for food companies.

All kinds of egg alternatives are being produced: not only freeze-dried eggs, but also plant-based egg products. They are usually soy or bean-based liquids that resemble scrambled eggs when you cook them.

For the first time last year, egg substitutes were cheaper than real eggs. And, not surprisingly, sales of egg substitutes increased by nearly 20%. According to Chicago-based market research firm, IRI.

Only eggswhich makes a mung bean-based scrambled egg product, has reportedly seen Sales increased by about 17% In the last year.

Now, if you can make something that looks like eggs, tastes like eggs, and costs less than eggs, you can make a lot of money.

An unscientific taste test in the form of eggs

But do egg substitute products really taste like eggs? Do they have a shot at getting between the Americans and their beloved eggs? I got some of my NPR colleagues together to try out some ellipses and see if they managed to crack the code.

I don’t think eggs will lose their superstar status anytime soon (one of my colleagues commented that plant-based eggs tasted like potatoes, another described them as “super interesting… but nothing like eggs”).

That’s all, yolks

But never fear, egg lovers! Science is moving fast: The first plant-based fried egg Recently developed by a start-up in Israel, investors are pouring billions of dollars into food start-ups working to address the elusive egg.

One thing is for sure: If egg prices remain high and supply remains spotty, customers will begin to get serious about looking for eggs.