Consumers urged not to stockpile eggs as Coles imposes limits

Consumers are being urged not to stockpile eggs amid an outbreak of bird flu at Victorian farms that has one major supermarket already imposing buying limits.

About 800,000 birds have been destroyed so far after avian influenza, a viral disease for birds, was detected at five Victorian poultry farms. The state is Australia’s third-biggest supplier of eggs, raising concerns the culls will crimp supply for many months and force prices to surge.

About 800,000 chickens have now been slaughtered in an effort to curb the latest avian flu outbreak.Credit: Jason South

On Sunday, Coles put a two-carton limit per customer for eggs in all stores except those in Western Australia. Rival Woolworths said on Monday it had no plans to introduce limits.

Aldi also has unlimited egg purchases but declined to say whether it would introduce buying restrictions. Retailers Costco and Metcash were contacted for comment.

Victorian Industry Minister Natalie Hutchins urged people not to flock to supermarkets to stock up on eggs.

“It’s a real challenge that there’s been a fifth farm identified with the avian flu,” Hutchins said. “But we don’t anticipate that there’s going to be an egg shortage.

“We do know that retailers are making decisions about putting limits in place of how many you can buy, very similar to during COVID with toilet paper.

“Sometimes when there’s discussions around shortages, it promotes people’s thinking to think that they need to stock up. They don’t need to stock up. There is still some very good supply.”

Egg farmer and Victorian Farmers Federation vice-president Danyel Cucinotta said the group was “anticipating a flow-on impact to egg supplies in the week” and was working hard to maintain supply.

“My advice is to shop around at your local grocer, market or small independent store to buy your eggs,” he said.

Federal Agricultural Minister Murray Watt said Australians could be confident the eggs they were consuming were safe.

“The work that the Victorian government is doing to euthanise poultry on those farms means that there’s no risk of contaminated eggs getting into the system, the supply system,” he said.

“It’s also important to remember that the strain of avian flu that we see in Victoria is not the particularly deadly strain that we have seen in other countries around the world.”

Agriculture Victoria said while cases were possible among humans in direct contact with animals infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, the current risk to the public remained low.

Supermarket giant Coles has capped egg purchases to two cartons per customer per shop.Credit: Shutterstock

“The spread of avian influenza from birds to people is rare but may occur with some strains of the virus if there is close contact with infected birds or their droppings, or with heavily contaminated environments,” it said.

An egg farmer from Victoria said free-range chickens were more likely to catch diseases from migratory birds as they were exposed to the outdoors.

“The migratory birds, they’re the ones who bring in all the diseases. They’re virtually immune to it, but they carry it. The poor chook cops it,” said the farmer, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

Ninety-five per cent of the farmer’s chickens are free-range, all of which have been moved into barns and sheds at the direction of the Department of Agriculture.

Contrary to public perception, chickens are not unhappy in cages, the farmer said. “Cage [eggs] is what lays the most – [chickens] don’t die, they don’t get sick. It’s all-round much better.

“Free range is good for Coles and Woolworths.”

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said the organisation was closely watching developments in Victoria and insisted there was “absolutely nothing wrong” with the eggs being produced by most farmers.

According to his calculation, the euthanised flock of chickens represents about 2 per cent of the nation’s poultry at most.

Credit: Matt Golding

“We don’t know why Coles has made the move they made, but it probably goes to the heart of their procurement policies and how they manage that,” Martin said. “It’s not as if everyone shouldn’t still keep eating eggs.”

Industry body Australian Eggs said while the culls would cause some disruption to egg supply as retailers reorganised their supply, purchase limits or patchy supermarket shelves did not indicate a nationwide shortage.

Australians Eggs managing director Rowan McMonnies said purchase limits could backfire. “If a retailer has been impacted by the avian influenza incidents then it might be necessary for them, but they can send the wrong message to consumers about broader egg supply,” he said.

Egg supply has also been temporarily affected by Agriculture Victoria’s decision to introduce a permit system for egg producers that fall within zones marked as restricted or control.

Wes Humpage, who supplies eggs from Maude, south-west of Melbourne, and whose birds have tested negative for avian flu, was unable to deliver or distribute eggs for over a week after Victoria’s chief veterinary officer, Graeme Cooke, issued a letter last Tuesday stating his department would not be granting any permits for 28 days after the first infection.

“It did come as quite a shock. We literally had packed vans for the following day – it’s a production process, everything’s all very planned and mapped out,” Humpage said.

“How are we gonna pay bills? Where are we gonna store our eggs for 28 days? If that’s truly what they want us to do, how do we work together to do that?”

The egg farmer began sharing his struggles on his business WesEggs’ Facebook page and received a permit approval about midday on Monday. “Up until a couple of days ago, we thought we were going to [go] 28 days with no income.”

Humpage hopes Agriculture Victoria will work more collaboratively with the industry to provide more support, such as emergency funding if necessary, and implementing biosecurity controls while ensuring the ongoing flow of supply where safe to do so.

“They’re like policemen and the cleanup crew at the moment,” he said.

“At the minute, their whole response is purely reactive. Even currently with us, they’re not really assisting us – they’re just checking to make sure we don’t have it, and if [we] did, they’d shut us down.”

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