At least if we want to stop the next pandemic. Vox's Kenny Torrella explains. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members Empty shelves of eggs in a New York City supermarket. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why are eggs being sold in smaller quantities?
A New York City bodega recently started selling what they're calling loosey eggs. Instead of a dozen or a half dozen, you can buy a little bag with three little eggs in it. The idea got a ton of attention.
It's not loose cigarettes, but loose eggs drawing people to Pamela's Green Deli. He says the idea to sell the loose eggs came after seeing customers being forced to leave a full carton on the counter.
Currently, New York State requires eggs to be sold in packages. And while the price of eggs is cracking wallets right now, Rodriguez tells us he just hopes to help his community one day at a time.
Eggs are too expensive. Ask anyone. Ask the President of the United States.
The eggs. Because I'm hearing so much about eggs, you'll figure it out. You've got to figure something out fast.
But on today, Eggsplained, Vox's Kenny Torello is actually going to make the case that eggs are too cheap. Get a load of this guy, will ya?
On this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, I'm chatting with internet sensation and everyone's favorite Philly influencer, Bran Flakes. He's a social media maverick and content creator turning viral moments into cold hard cash. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on the Your Rich BFF YouTube channel.
We've been doing this whole virtual assistants thing for more than a decade, and yet Siri is still terrible. Alexa and Google Assistant are, you know, better, but they're pretty much just for music and timers. But everybody is convinced, all those companies and many others, that AI is going to change the way that we do everything.
So is now really the time for the voice assistant and virtual assistant revolution? That's what we discussed this week on The Verge Cast, wherever you get podcasts.
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Chapter 2: What is causing the high price of eggs?
The bird flu is really bad. You know, this outbreak, which has been the worst in U.S. history, it began in early 2022, and it's only getting worse.
According to the USDA, avian flu has been confirmed in 146 flocks in the past month, affecting more than 20 million birds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is calling this multi-year bird flu outbreak the largest in U.S. history. The impact hits close to home.
Dozens of state and federal agricultural workers dressed in biohazard suits, sanitized boots and gloves are assisting in the euthanization of the entire flock here, 100,000 ducks.
This strain known as H5N1, it's a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza or bird flu, which has been highly lethal to birds raised for meat and eggs like chickens and turkeys. You know, more than 20 million egg-laying hens were killed either because they became infected with the virus or they were killed to slow the spread of the virus.
To put that into perspective, that's 6% of America's egg-laying flock.
Is that why the eggs are so expensive, Kenny? I don't want to make this about the eggs when you just said 20 million of our friendly chickens have died, but is that why the eggs are so expensive?
That's really the only reason why eggs are so expensive, aside from food inflation. The bird flu has led to egg shortages across the country. Some stores are even placing limits on how many cartons consumers can buy.
Can someone explain to me why people are going crazy for eggs?
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Chapter 3: How is the bird flu impacting animals and humans?
And the average price for a dozen of eggs is double now what it was before this outbreak began three years ago.
All right, guys, today is a day. I know they are going to be $1.99 today. Oh, chickens must be on a strike or something, because, baby, ain't no way six eggs is $4.99.
The high price of eggs, it's not the only problem related to bird flu, because it's increasingly affecting other animals. Scientists detected bird flu in cows for the first time ever in the United States almost a year ago. And since then, it's infected almost 1,000 dairy cow herds. But it's also infecting and killing other mammals like sea lions and seals.
And it even killed a cheetah and a mountain lion at a zoo in Arizona not too long ago.
I don't love it.
Yeah, there's not much to love about the bird flu, especially because it's now hitting humans.
I don't love that at all. Tell me more about that.
Yeah, almost 70 people in the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu since the spring of 2022. We're not doing mass testing, so it could be higher. But most of them have been people who work with poultry or dairy cows, and most cases have been somewhat mild. But there have been a few cases that have stood out and have concerned experts. For example, last month there was a woman in Louisiana who
She had exposure to a backyard chicken flock and also some wild birds. She got the bird flu. She was hospitalized. And tragically, she passed away from the virus. And in November, a 13-year-old Canadian girl who had no known exposure to wild or farmed birds or dairy cows, she developed a really severe infection and was hospitalized for weeks.
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Chapter 4: What are the governmental strategies to tackle the bird flu?
What else?
Increased funding for farmers who have to call or kill their flocks. Again, this is more of the same. This is something the Biden administration has done for the last three years.
OK, anything fresh, anything new?
Yes and no. I mean, one point of the plan is to import more eggs, which is what the Obama administration did during the 2015 bird flu outbreak. And then there are some other ideas, like trying to roll back cage-free egg laws, which we're seeing some states already trying to do, and vaccines, which is actually welcome news.
Well, I know President Trump has a history with, you know, vaccinating millions of Americans, Operation Warp Speed, TBT, COVID-19, etc. But his new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Roberts Floride Kennedy, hates vaccines. How does he feel about vaccinating chickens, though?
Well, thankfully, that's the purview of the USDA. So RFK Jr. has no oversight over whether birds get vaccinated. Of course, I am worried that if this does start to transmit to more humans, he will have oversight over the development and distribution and approval of vaccines for people. But at least right now, It's in the USDA's hands as to whether we start vaccinating egg-laying hens.
Okay, so we've got five points, Kenny, ranging from more showers for people working on these chicken farms to vaccinating millions, hundreds of millions of chickens potentially. Do we have any idea when this five-point plan from Brooke Rollins would go into effect? I mean, we've got the Wall Street Journal op-ed. When do we see the money moving?
It's unclear. There's not a lot of specifics as to when and how this money will be deployed and how fast they'll act on things like expanding vaccine development. So it's more of a wait and see situation like the last few years have been with bird flu.
OK, but this issue isn't going anywhere.
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Chapter 5: How do factory farms contribute to the spread of bird flu?
Yeah, and it rarely grabs the country's attention. We don't really talk that much about factory farming. You know, we're only doing this show because of this outbreak and how it's affected egg prices and the egg supply. But there are millions of people in rural America who have been dealing with the public health effects of factory farms for decades.
And many have been sounding the alarm, but no one's really been listening. So I spent the last several months talking to them for a series for Vox. And you're going to hear from them when we're back on Today Explained. Aww.
Hello, podcast listeners. I'm Sean Romser. I'm here from the Today Explained show, and I've got some news you can use. We're taking Vox Media podcasts on the road and heading back to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Festival. March 8th through 10th, we'll be doing special live episodes of hit shows, including our show, Today Explained. Where should we begin? With Esther Perel. Pivot.com.
A touch more with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. Not just football with Cam Hayward. And more presented by Smartsheet. The Vox Media podcast stage at South by Southwest is open to all South by Southwest badge holders. I'll be the guy in a Mr. T costume. We hope to see you at the Austin Convention Center soon. You can visit voxmedia.com slash SXSW to learn more. That's voxmedia.com slash SXSW.
Support for this daily news podcast comes from an entirely different daily news podcast, Up First from NPR. If you listened to Today Explained, you probably like the news, you're interested in the news, but you don't want to be totally grim and depressed all the time. And that's why you tune into our show. Up First actually has a very similar vibe.
They cover the three most important stories of the day in just 15 minutes, so you can briskly learn what you need to know and then move on about your day. They cover everything, the current administration, business, economics, immigration policy. They're going to keep it brief, but they're going to keep it informative.
Fun fact about me, I used to be a co-host of Up First, and I can tell you that they have some of the best radio journalists in the game. Steve Inskeep, Michelle Martin, Leila Fadl, Ayesha Roscoe, A. Martinez, with you every day in your news feed, keeping you up to date on the most important stories of the day.
If you're looking for a little more news and a little less noise, a good way to kick off your day and be a little more informed is Up First from NPR.
Hey there, I'm Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, the podcast about tech and media and the way they're colliding. And this week I'm talking about the state of the movies and the state of TV and how they all get melded together in the Oscars, a huge event that looks like it's going to get smaller every year.
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