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Price of eggs forces Trump to rehire fired bird flu experts; in NYC a dozen sells for over US$ 12 Thursday, February 20th 2025 – 16:23 UTC Full article 0 comments As egg prices soar, grocers limit how many cartons customers can buy US President Donald Trump’s administration is attempting to rehire officials with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) who worked on the government response to bird flu before being fired over the weekend, US media report. This is because the price of eggs in the US have soared and in New York City for example, a dozen is selling at over US$ 12, or if not regular customers in small stores are buying loose eggs, a common practice, with three eggs for US$ 3, three dollars. The layoffs at the USDA were a part of a cost-cutting mission across the US government by Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) leader Elon Musk. The terminations came as the latest outbreak of the bird flu has wreaked havoc on poultry and cattle farms, causing egg prices to skyrocket and raising concerns among public health experts. A USDA spokesperson told the BBC that although “several” officials working on bird flu were “notified of their terminations” over the weekend, “we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters”. “USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfil our statutory mission,” the spokesperson added. Bird flu has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, but the virus found a new foothold in the US last year when it began to infect dairy cows. Since then, dozens of humans in close contact with the animals have been infected as well, including a Louisiana patient who was the first to die from the virus in the US last month. At the same time, the outbreak has worsened on poultry farms, forcing farmers to cull their chickens, leading to egg shortages and high prices. Earlier this week, the US reached an agreement to buy 15,000 tons of liquid egg from Turkey to help plug the shortage, a Turkish trade official told the BBC. Ibrahim Afyon, the president of the Egg Producers Central Union in Turkey, said the egg products would be sent to the US in two batches by the end of June. Trump launched his mass cost-cutting program in an effort to weed out what he sees as taxpayers’ money being wasted. Polling suggests cutting government spending has widespread support. But the USDA firings are not the first time the administration has attempted to rehire federal employees within days of laying them off. After firing officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration last week, US media reported that the government was trying to reinstate some of those employees, but was struggling to get in contact with them. The layoffs were in addition to an estimated 75,000 workers who have accepted buyout offers from the White House to leave voluntarily. (BBC) Categories: Economy , Health & Science , United States . Tags: bird flu , Donald Trump , eggs , US Department of Agriculture (USDA) . Top Comments Disclaimer & comment rules No comments for this story Please log in or register (it’s free!) to comment. Login with Facebook
