Egg rationing in place at major supermarkets amid fears of new disease variant

Major supermarkets are continuing to ration the number of eggs shoppers can buy as farmers struggle with the ongoing impact of an outbreak of bird flu and fears of an even more devastating variant hitting the sector.

Coles and Woolworths are still enforcing a limit of two cartons per shopper in the wake of the destruction of 2 million chickens since May, following an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H7 variant which contaminated 16 farms across Victoria, NSW and the ACT.

About 2 million chickens have been destroyed since the bird flu outbreak in May.Credit: Jason South

The egg industry is also on high alert for a potential outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed millions of birds and has spread to humans and other mammals, including seals in Antarctica.

Earlier this year, a Victorian child fell ill with the H5N1 strain, but it did not spread. A particularly virulent strain of H5N1 has devastated wildlife populations on every continent except Australia.

Danyel Cucinotta, an egg farmer and vice-president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, anticipates shortages to remain for another six to 12 months.

“The eggs will exist, it’s just not in the abundance we traditionally know,” Cucinotta said.

Eggs suppliers are still trying to make up the shortfall from the bird flu outbreak this year. Credit: Louie Douvis

“A lot of these egg farms ... still don’t have birds back in those farms. So if you think about the supply chain, you can’t just ... breed or hatch another 2 million birds overnight.”

Cucinotta said the demand for eggs was particularly high.

“In a cost-of-living crisis, more and more people are eating eggs because they’re an affordable source of protein,” she said.

“So you’ve got all these complex problems on top of the fact that you have a demand increase, suddenly you have a lack of eggs.”

Coles and Woolworths are limiting the number of eggs shoppers can buy.

Buying chicken meat hadn’t been as big a problem, Cucinotta said, because most poultry farms in the areas affected by the outbreak produced only eggs. Some farms were made to temporarily stop breeding birds because it was deemed risky, but it has not become an ongoing issue.

“There was a slight disruption, and I absolutely feel for the farms that were unable to repopulate but [it’s] nowhere near the destruction ... it did to eggs,” she said.

The Department of Agriculture is advising consumers to refrain from purchasing more eggs than needed.

Cucinotta said she was terrified that an outbreak of the H5N1 variant in Australia could happen any time.

“We’re essentially, as an industry, planning when, not if,” she said.

“So if there is another outbreak, you will see a mass shortage of eggs across the entire country, just because we’ve already depleted some of our supply.”

The federal government is preparing for an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 variant.

On Friday, the Department of Agriculture hosted a webinar simulating how it and conservation and agriculture agencies would respond.

A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was first detected at a vast egg farm in Meredith, west of Melbourne.Credit: Jason South

Speaking at the webinar, Dr Simone Vitali, the Wildlife Health Australia emergencies program manager, said mass bird mortalities were to be expected.

“This is not going to be a nice way to die,” Vitali said.

“The prognosis for recovery is extremely poor.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop [the variant] entering Australia and once it’s here the prognosis for affected individuals [birds] is grave.”

Workers at a Meredith egg farm in May. Authorities are on high alert for another variant of bird flu.Credit: Jason South

Department of Agriculture deputy secretary Justine Saunders said the government had measures in place to minimise the impact of an outbreak.

“[We’ve] established interim and sustainable government response mechanisms,” Saunders said.

“I can reassure you the planning is being informed by the science.”

Wes Humpage, an egg farmer from Maude, south-west of Melbourne, said taking a proactive approach in tightening biosecurity would prevent the industry being caught “on the back foot” in the future.

Credit: Matt Golding

Humpage, who supplies to businesses in the Geelong area, said he expected supply to begin normalising in the next three months.

“Springtime egg production, this is the time where … everything is really high efficiency… in terms of egg lay rate.”

Woolworths said its egg supply was improving every week and that demand from customers was higher than last year. Coles said it would continue imposing limits of two cartons per shopper while the industry recovers.

Warmer weather is, however, bringing more fruit – such as blueberries and mangoes – into season.

Berries Australia executive director Rachel Mackenzie said a strong supply of blueberries had lowered prices.

Warmer weather has brought a larger supply of blueberries.Credit: Bloomberg

“There’ll be good availability for at least the next month,” Mackenzie said.

“I’d say the prices will remain pretty low for the next few weeks, or to a month.”

Meanwhile, mango season is climbing, said Trevor Dunmall, the chief executive of the Australian Mangoes Industry Association.

“Consumers will have seen some mangoes in store for the last few weeks, now it will ramp up from basically next week right through Christmas and well into the new year,” Dunmall said.

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