Police in Pennsylvania are hunting for thieves who stole 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer, amid a US-wide spike in the price of eggs that has triggered panic-buying in some shops.
The eggs were lifted from the back of Pete & Gerry’s Organics’ distribution trailer on Saturday at about 8.40pm in Antrim township, according to police. There have been no arrests yet.
“We’re relying on leads from people from the community. So we’re hoping that somebody knows something, and they’ll call us and give us some tips,” Megan Frazer of the Pennsylvania state police told the Associated Press.
“In my career, I’ve never heard of 100,000 eggs being stolen. This is definitely unique,” said Frazer, a 12-year veteran of law enforcement.
Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing US egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023.
Waffle House, the Georgia-based restaurant chain, said it was adding a 50- cent charge per egg, blaming the “continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu)”.
On the campaign trail Donald Trump repeatedly vowed that on his first day in office he would “immediately bring prices down” for food.
The average price per dozen eggs nationwide hit $4.15 in December. That is not quite as high as the $4.82 record set two years ago, but the agriculture department predicts egg prices are going to soar another 20% this year.
