In February 2024, government veterinarians in the Czech Republic investigating a bird flu outbreak found themselves in the middle of a puzzling case. Click here to read the full article. 

​The National Chicken Council (NCC) petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse or modify a regulation that requires the broiler industry to discard safe, nutritious eggs amid record egg prices driven by the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak.
“With government risk assessments affirming their safety, and the fact that surplus broiler hatching eggs would be pasteurized, we respectfully request FDA to immediately exercise its enforcement discretion to allow these eggs to be sent for breaking, helping to ease costs and inflationary pressures for consumers,” said Ashley Peterson, NCC senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.
NCC previously petitioned the FDA during the current HPAI outbreak, but the Biden administration rejected the request in 2023. The council estimated that granting the exemption would release nearly 400 million eggs annually into the egg-breaking supply, preserving table eggs for consumer use.
Peterson said the move would not immediately lower egg prices but could help stabilize supply. “It’s just common sense we shouldn’t be throwing away eggs at a time like this, especially when the government says they’re safe,” she said.
NCC expressed willingness to work with the Trump administration to advance policies that address inflation and high food prices, including an exemption to the FDA’s Shell Egg Rule.

 The cost of food in the US increased significantly amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the steep inflation that followed. While prices have stabilized more recently, new factors have already driven up the costs for eggs and threaten to increase them for other common household foods. Click here for more. 

From fresh avocados to dairy products, Americans rely heavily on their bordering countries for everyday grocery items. The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada — two of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the US — on February 1.  Click here for the full article.