There is a turkey shortage at sandwich shops, meat markets and grocery stores across the United States. If you’ve seen a price increase in your favorite turkey sandwich or turkey dish, blame the recent avian influenza, known as the “bird flu” outbreak.
Store managers admit the shortage, caused after the “bird flu” killed millions of turkeys, could continue.
On “freaky fast” sandwich giant Jimmy John’s website, the company explains a nationwide outbreak of avian influenza, which wiped out 40 million turkeys and chickens, hit their supply chain especially hard.
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The turkey shortage is also noticeable at butcher shops, grocery stores and specialty food stores.
The disease this spring destroyed about 30.3 million egg-laying chickens in Iowa and about 1.1 million turkeys. Nationally, about 42 million layers and 7.5 million turkeys were killed.
The turkey breasts there are small because farmers, desperate to get some kind of product to market, slaughtered younger, smaller turkeys.
With the turkey supply being low, prices have gone up.
Turkey breast last month cost $1.90 a pound. Today, is $2.29. Next month’s estimate: $2.59.
Other turkey prices are also affected: Boxes of turkey burgers were $7.99 in June, now they’re $8.99.
Egg prices more than doubled with the outbreak but have retrenched at still high prices.
Midwest shell egg prices were around $2.30 a dozen this month, said Brian Moscogiuri, a market reporter at…
… Urner Barry, a New Jersey commodity research company. The prices are about 90% higher than April, when the outbreak began in Iowa.
“Iowa is the leading egg producer, and in the course of four weeks, we lost half our industry,” said Dave Rettig, president of Rembrandt Foods, a large egg producer based in Spirit Lake. The company lost about 8 million egg-laying hens to the disease.
Only a handful of the 71 Iowa chicken and turkey farms stricken by bird flu are close to reopening, with many of the remaining facilities facing months before they’re back in business.
Looking ahead to Thanksgiving, experts predict a 10 percent decrease in turkey production.
However, because the United States is exporting fewer turkeys this year, the domestic supply around the holiday should be adequate to keep prices at a normal level, or about $1.05 a pound for a holiday bird.
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