Eggs are costlier than ever earlier than, with some People spending greater than a greenback an egg. These egg costs aren’t only a product of inflation, they’re additionally linked to an ongoing chook flu epidemic. However other than the value of eggs, how does the H5N1 epidemic have an effect on your breakfast? Is it fit for human consumption eggs throughout this epidemic? And other than chook flu, is it wholesome to eat eggs within the first place? Right here’s every little thing it’s essential to know.
What Is Chook Flu?
Chook flu, or avian influenza (H5N1), is a viral an infection that spreads primarily in birds. Chook flu outbreaks can have an effect on massive numbers of birds and different animals, and in some instances may even unfold to people.
In instances the place H5N1 spreads to people, it could trigger delicate to extreme respiratory signs and pink eye. Individuals who work with dairy cows, poultry, and waterfowl are essentially the most in danger, as infections unfold from individual to individual are extraordinarily uncommon.
The Present Chook Flu Epidemic
The present H5 chook flu outbreak started in March 2024. It has since affected over 166 million chickens, and 30 million birds had been culled within the first two months of 2025 alone1. Consequently, egg costs have greater than doubled because the outbreak started, with an all-time common excessive of $4.95 per dozen. The USDA predicts that costs may soar greater than 40 p.c in 20252, and Enterprise Insider argues that they could by no means settle again right down to pre-flu numbers3.
Whereas there was some speak of placing a cease to culling, authorities officers now say that the present “stamping out” coverage will stay the really helpful plan of action4. This coverage has been really helpful by the World Group for Animal Well being to scale back each unfold and animal struggling.
Within the quick time period, importing eggs from nations like Turkey might assist fill the egg-shaped void in American grocery shops. Longer-term proposed coverage adjustments embrace the event of vaccinations for poultry, although there are issues that this might affect exports, as we noticed in France when authorities started vaccinating geese for chook flu.
It’s Not Simply Birds We Have to Fear About
Opposite to its widespread names of “chook flu” or “avian flu,” H5N1 can infect people, with 70 reported instances of chook flu in folks in america to date. The pressure additionally displays what the Los Angeles Instances has known as “a troubling means to leap to mammals5.”
In April 2024, farmers reported the primary ever instances of chook flu in dairy cattle. Since then, 985 dairy herds have been contaminated, 754 of that are in California. In March 2025, scientists recognized a genetic mutation in 4 dairy cow herds that makes the virus extra transmissible — and extra lethal. “It’s not a stretch to suppose it may assist allow extra human infections,” says Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude’s Kids’s Analysis Hospital6.
The right way to Eat Eggs Safely
So are you able to get chook flu from eggs? We all know that individuals can contract chook flu by coming into contact with contaminated livestock, however consuming contaminated eggs doesn’t appear to affect human well being. So far, there have been no confirmed instances of chook flu in people linked to consuming contaminated eggs7.
Chook flu apart, the CDC however recommends cooking eggs to an inner temperature of 165˚F8. The company says that that is one of the best ways to kill off micro organism and viruses, together with avian influenza A viruses.
That stated, in response to Dave Asprey, Writer of Closely Meditated, cooking eggs to this temperature “normally isn’t a problem in case your eggs are high-quality and pasture-raised.”
And cooking eggs for too lengthy can truly deliver out different destructive well being results. “Overcooking egg yolks will oxidize the ldl cholesterol and fats within the yolks which may result in irritation,” says Asprey. “I personally solely eat eggs with a runny yolk.”
Which Eggs Ought to You Eat?
As with many meals merchandise, not all eggs are created equal. Whereas caged eggs are on the trail to being eradicated from the American meals system in the mean time9, the variations between cage-free eggs, cage-free natural eggs, and actually pastured eggs will be enormous. These variations aren’t simply concerning the well being and way of life of the animals, but additionally concerning the dietary content material of the eggs themselves.
For the perfect, search for natural, Licensed Humane eggs labeled “pasture-raised” or “free-range.”
In accordance with researchers at Penn State’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, actually pastured eggs are extra flavorful — to not point out richer in omega-3 fatty acids and nutritional vitamins A and E10. For the perfect, search for natural, Licensed Humane eggs labeled “pasture-raised” or “free-range.”
Are Eggs Even Wholesome?
Chook flu apart, eggs have lengthy flip-flopped within the eyes of public opinion. We dutifully ate one a day; we ate three a day. We ate entire eggs or simply the whites or none in any respect, changing them with Egg Beaters or flax eggs. So what’s the reality — are eggs wholesome, or do eggs trigger excessive ldl cholesterol? Vitamin science and the FDA have lastly settled on a verdict: Eggs are good for you.
Up to now, it was the hyperlink between eggs and ldl cholesterol that stirred up controversy. However since 2024 analysis in Cureus discovered that dietary ldl cholesterol doesn’t have a significant impact on blood levels of cholesterol11, the entire well being advantages of eggs can now proudly shine. And there are loads of them.
Important Vitamins in Eggs
A 2023 analysis assessment in Vitamins discovered that eggs may enhance muscle protein synthesis, decrease fats mass, enhance satiety, and had a null impact on the danger of heart problems. The truth is, a 2025 evaluation in Vitamins discovered that older adults who consumed between one and 6 eggs per week truly confirmed a 29 p.c decrease price of loss of life by coronary heart illness12.
Eggs are wealthy in B nutritional vitamins, folate, and fat-soluble nutritional vitamins A, D, E, and Ok. They’re additionally one of many richest dietary sources of choline, a nutrient that impacts liver operate, mind growth, and metabolism.
In fact, not everybody will reap the identical advantages of consuming eggs. In accordance with Asprey, widespread egg allergy symptoms can result in low-grade irritation in many individuals. “Take a look at your self to see in case you really feel higher with out eggs,” he suggests. Even in case you do really feel OK with eggs, he notes that it’s a good suggestion to “take a break each on occasion.”
“I wouldn’t overdo them,” he says, “as a result of consuming too many may cause an egg sensitivity in some folks.”
If You’re Taking a Hiatus on Eggs
“It isn’t obligatory to incorporate eggs in your food plan in case you can’t discover them or in the event that they’re too costly.”
Dave Asprey, Writer of Closely Meditated
Today, selecting top-quality eggs is usually a significantly tall order. Asprey notes that in case you’ve bought the selection between a low-quality egg and no egg in any respect, it’s higher to err on the facet of warning. “It isn’t obligatory to incorporate eggs in your food plan in case you can’t discover them or in the event that they’re too costly,” he says.
When you’re avoiding eggs or simply on the lookout for options, you may change egg whites with aquafaba and entire eggs with flax eggs in baking. And take additional care to incorporate different sources of key vitamins that you just would possibly usually get from eggs in your food plan. The choline and B nutritional vitamins present in eggs may also be present in grass-fed beef liver and wild-caught fish like salmon.
Lastly, if you do get your arms on some top-quality eggs, deal with them effectively. Attempt having fun with one or two gently poached on a mattress of black beans or slowly baked in an heirloom tomato for a scrumptious meal that may showcase the egg at its highest.
Sources:
- https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
- https://apnews.com/article/record-egg-prices-usda-bird-flu-virus-92e9f5fbc4e0a792be484a4aee5b9c16
- https://www.businessinsider.com/egg-prices-expensive-avian-bird-flu-changing-tastes-cage-free-2025-1
- https://www.cbsnews.com/information/bird-flu-us-officials-walk-back-plans-to-stop-culling-poultry/
- https://www.latimes.com/surroundings/story/2024-04-14/nobody-saw-this-coming-california-dairies-scramble-to-guard-herds-against-bird-flu
- https://www.latimes.com/surroundings/story/2025-03-12/study-shows-widespread-h5n1-bird-flu-infection-in-cattle
- https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/7-bird-flu-questions-answered.h00-159774867.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/prevention/food-safety.html
- https://www.compassioninfoodbusiness.com/latest-news/our-news/2025/01/us-ahead-of-canada-in-cage-free-egg-transition
- https://www.psu.edu/information/agricultural-sciences/story/research-shows-eggs-pastured-chickens-may-be-more-nutritious
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11161868/
- https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/2/323
