President Donald Trump promised to decrease costs for groceries, together with eggs. However one crack in his plan is that egg costs haven’t fallen since he took workplace on January 20.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her first on-camera information briefing on January 28, blamed that on former President Joe Biden’s “inflationary insurance policies”.
Leavitt stated the Biden administration and the US Agriculture Division “directed the mass killing of greater than 100 million chickens, which has led to an absence of rooster provide on this nation, due to this fact an absence of egg provide, which is resulting in the scarcity”.
Leavitt’s assertion is partially correct in regards to the culling of thousands and thousands of chickens, however she omitted essential particulars and context about why that occurred.
First, the chickens have been killed to stop the unfold of the extremely pathogenic avian influenza, or fowl flu.
Second, it’s been longstanding USDA coverage to cull a whole flock of birds as soon as fowl flu has been detected, together with throughout Trump’s first administration.
White Home deputy press secretary Anna Kelly referred PolitiFact again to Leavitt’s information briefing feedback.
Egg costs rose below Biden – from $1.60 per dozen in February 2021 to $4.10 in December 2024 (his first and final full months in workplace), Bureau of Labor Statistics information reveals. The Agriculture Division’s January meals value outlook stated egg costs might rise about 20 p.c extra this yr.
A spokesperson for Expana, an organization that tracks client costs, instructed information outlet Axios {that a} dozen massive eggs prices greater than $7 in some US areas.
Since February 8, 2022, when the virus was detected in a business flock, greater than 147 million birds, together with chickens, turkeys, geese and geese, have died, the USDA stated.
USDA information reveals 108 million egg-laying chickens died since 2022, together with 13 million in 2025. It’s not clear what number of have been euthanised or died of the virus.
As of January 29, fowl flu has additionally been detected in dairy cattle, affecting 944 herds in 16 states, US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention information reveals. People have additionally examined optimistic for the virus – 67 confirmed instances have been reported within the US and one particular person has died, the CDC stated.
Why are flocks culled?
Consultants instructed PolitiFact the birds are culled to cease the virus from spreading. This protects not solely close by farms and the poultry business, however public well being. A 2002 federal legislation, the Animal Well being Safety Act, offers the USDA’s Animal and Plant Well being Inspection Service authority to depopulate herds and flocks to cease the illness’s unfold.
“If the birds are useless, the virus dies together with them,” Russ Daly, a veterinarian for the South Dakota Division of Well being and a South Dakota State College professor, stated.
Chickens that contract the fowl flu virus have little probability of survival; 90 p.c to 100% p.c of them die, often inside 48 hours, the CDC stated.
Ready for the chickens to die naturally permits extra viral load into the ambiance, making it extra harmful for the farm employees and different individuals who are available in contact with the farm, Jada Thompson, a College of Arkansas agricultural economics and agribusiness affiliate professor, stated.
Is that this coverage new?
A number of veterinary professors instructed PolitiFact that depopulation or “stamping out” of sick birds is a longstanding coverage and pointed to a 2015 fowl flu outbreak throughout the Obama administration.
Depopulation is the USDA’s main management and eradication technique for avian influenza, Yuko Sato, a veterinarian and Iowa State College affiliate professor, stated.
“This newest outbreak is devastating due to the big numbers of premises concerned since 2022,” Carol Cardona, a College of Minnesota veterinary professor and chair of avian well being, stated. “However the rule has been there for a really very long time now.”
A 2016 USDA report reveals that depopulation in 2015 resulted in 50 million birds being killed.
A USDA fowl flu response plan, up to date in Could 2017 throughout Trump’s first administration, incorporates coverage steering primarily based on classes from influenza outbreaks throughout the Obama and first Trump administrations. It stated: “Speedy depopulation of contaminated poultry is crucial to halt virus transmission and have to be prioritised.”
Throughout a March 2017 fowl flu outbreak, a USDA report stated, “almost 253,000 birds have been depopulated.”
How does depopulation work?
The USDA encourages farmers who discover indicators of sickness to contact the USDA or their state veterinarian. Samples taken from the animals are examined and the USDA confirms instances; depopulation often takes place inside 48 hours of the virus’s affirmation.
The USDA pays the farmers for the killed birds.
“It’s in the very best curiosity of the farmer to get this carried out rapidly, because the USDA gives indemnity funds for the euthanised birds, however not those that die naturally,” Daly stated.
Our ruling
Leavitt stated there’s an egg scarcity as a result of the Biden administration “directed the mass killing of greater than 100 million chickens”.
In the course of the Biden administration, greater than 100 million egg-laying chickens died from fowl flu or have been killed to cease the virus’ unfold. This led to an egg scarcity and better costs.
Depopulation is a longstanding apply to stop fowl flu from spreading, agriculture specialists stated. Authorities paperwork present depopulation was the USDA’s fowl flu technique throughout Trump’s first time period and throughout the 2015 outbreak below Obama.
Leavitt’s assertion is partially correct however leaves out essential particulars and context. We fee it Half True.