Bipartisan bill aims to reduce egg waste, lower prices

Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) introduced the Lowering Egg Prices Act alongside Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.), and Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), aiming to ease regulations that require farmers to discard hundreds of millions of eggs annually.

The bill mirrors a recent National Chicken Council (NCC) petition urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to modify a 15-year-old rule that mandates egg refrigeration within 36 hours of being laid. The regulation does not distinguish between table eggs, which require refrigeration, and breaker eggs, which are pasteurized for use in processed foods.
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NCC President Harrison Kircher praised the legislation, saying it would help stabilize egg prices by reducing unnecessary waste. A bipartisan group of lawmakers also sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Sara Brenner urging the agency to revise the rule, citing a 2020 risk assessment that found broiler eggs pose minimal public health risk due to pasteurization.