American consumers have seen unprecedented increases in the cost of animal products over the past few years, with egg prices having more than doubled in the past eighteen months and combined meat, poultry, fish, and egg prices reaching a historic high. While inflation has impacted all food categories, two significant factors have disproportionately driven up animal product prices: the devastating impact of avian influenza, and systematic price manipulation by major meat producers. These price increases reveal deeper issues within our industrial food system and its vulnerability to both natural and human-caused disruptions.The ongoing avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak has become the deadliest bird flu in U.S. history, leading to the culling of 150 million poultry in the U.S. since early 2022—an average of 138,000 domestic birds slaughtered and discarded every day. This strain of bird flu, designated a “highly pathogenic avian influenza” or HPAI, spreads rapidly through industrial farming operations where tens of thousands of birds are crowded together in close quarters, providing a perfect petri dish for multiplying the infection. The genetic similarity of commercial broiler chickensamplifies their vulnerability to the illness. (Read More)
