President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to import large quantities of eggs from overseas to make up for the loss of eggs that has occurred while American farms struggle to contain bird flu.However, Bloomberg reports that the administration has been flailing in its efforts so far give...

Summary

The Trump administration’s effort to import eggs to offset losses from bird flu is struggling due to logistical challenges and global supply constraints.

Many countries, including Turkey, are prioritizing domestic supply and imposing export taxes.

Experts warn that replacing U.S. egg production with imports is unrealistic, as the industry operates on a local scale.

To meet demand, the U.S. would need 70 to 100 million eggs in the next month, a goal analysts say is nearly impossible to achieve quickly.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    24·
    2 days ago

    Many countries, including Turkey, are prioritizing domestic supply and imposing export taxes.

    I am not at all sure that we can import from Turkey.

    https://www.fsis.usda.gov/inspection/import-export/import-guidance/sourcing-egg-products-and-shell-eggs-foreign-countries

    Sourcing Egg Products and Shell Eggs From Foreign Countries

    “Shell Eggs” is the term for whole, unbroken eggs in trade parlance.

    Because of the expected shortage of egg products in the United States because of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in egg laying hens, companies that use egg products are asking about foreign sources of eggs and egg products.

    To be eligible to export egg products to the United States, countries must have an egg products inspection system that is equivalent to FSIS’s inspection system. To determine whether a country maintains an equivalent inspection system, FSIS conducts a thorough document review of that country’s relevant laws, regulations, and other official publications, and one or more on-site audits of the country’s relevant inspection system. If FSIS tentatively concludes that the system is equivalent based on that review, FSIS proposes to list the country in the egg products inspection regulations as eligible to export egg products to the United States. FSIS then evaluates any comments received in response to the proposal and determines whether to develop the final rule. If, after evaluating comments and any other available data, FSIS concludes that the country’s system is equivalent, FSIS publishes a final rule listing the country in the regulations as eligible to export egg products to the U.S.

    So, basically, there’s a long review process.

    There are two countries authorized to export egg products to the United States: Canada and the Netherlands.

    And the USDA needs to conduct the review.

    So we are in a situation where Trump has managed to, in the matter of a few weeks, do his utmost to:

    • Antagonize Canada.

    • Antagonize the Netherlands.

    • Lay off thousands of workers from the agency that has to conduct this extensive legal review to authorize any other countries, a bunch of whom were just judicially reinstated for the time being.

    While Trump isn’t responsible for creating the pandemic that created the egg shortage, and that’s really the elephant in the room here, I can’t really imagine a worse possible way that he could be responding to it.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      14·
      2 days ago

      This is Trump, the same guy who thought that the best way to make COVID numbers go down is to stop recording COVID cases. He has the most rudimentary grasp on cause and effect that his solution to not enough eggs is to remove all safeguards and import whatever another country thinks qualifies as eggs. And that’s ignoring eggs with bird flu. It’s fully within his scope of inept decisions to enable DOGE to gut the FDA and expedite foreign eggs.

      It isn’t impossible to get the eggs. It’s impossible to get the eggs that we expect.

    • earphone843@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      12·
      2 days ago

      I mean, I fully expect him to try to throw out the regulations that require all of that checking to import eggs.

      It would be nice if he got rid of the regulations requiring eggs to be washed, like pretty much every other developed country.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
      10·
      2 days ago

      It’s Denmark that Trump has directly antagonized with all the Greenland stuff, not the Netherlands.

      That said, the Netherlands is so ride or die for Canada that I wouldn’t be surprised if they told the US to get fucked out of spite.

    • andallthat@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 days ago

      Dear federal employee, this is Elon again. I haven’t seen a response to my last email. Are you mad at me?

      This week I’d like you to provide evidence that you laid an egg for your Country. Failure to comply will result in me thinking that maybe you don’t love me. Can you do just this one little thing for me? Come on, one little egg.

    • RattlerSix@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 days ago

      “While Trump isn’t responsible for creating the pandemic that created the egg shortage, and that’s really the elephant in the room here, I can’t really imagine a worse possible way that he could be responding to it.”

      We’re not even to horse paste solutions yet