State Restricts Egg Sales as Prices Continue to Climb

Starting in the new year, supermarkets across Michigan will no longer sell eggs from caged chickens, a move that has sparked concerns about potential price hikes amid ongoing inflation.

With few exceptions, grocery stores will stop offering shell eggs sourced from caged hens to customers beginning Dec. 31, according to a report from MLive.com.

This shift has been in the works for several years. In 2019, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, acting on behalf of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, signed an amendment to the Animal Industry Act. This legislation requires all egg-laying hens in the state to be kept in cage-free environments.

Now, five years later, industry representatives say they’re ready to comply.

“Our producers are ready. They’ve spent a lot of time and money getting there, but they are committed to the cage-free housing for all of their hens and pullets,” said Nancy Barr, executive director of Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, in response to the changes, as reported by MLive.com.

Tim Boring, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasized that the agency’s staff will ensure compliance with the new rules.

“Producers have been working to retrofit a lot of these systems for quite some time to be in cage-free situations,” Boring said, adding that he has not heard of significant egg supply disruptions due to the transition.

Other state officials have also been preparing for the implementation of these new standards.

In July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote to SpartanNash, a Michigan-based grocery chain, urging them to include signage in stores to inform customers whether eggs come from caged hens.

“Every consumer deserves to feel confident about the food they put on their dinner table,” Nessel stated in her letter. Her office argued that cage-free systems “generally provide better living conditions for hens compared to traditional battery cages, which raise numerous public health, environmental, and animal welfare concerns.”

However, with the policy set to take effect, some are concerned about higher costs.

As of November, egg prices in the Midwest were already 91% higher compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, cage-free eggs tend to cost about 45 cents more per dozen than those from caged hens, according to MLive.com.

Vincenzina Caputo, a food and consumer economics professor at Michigan State University, explained that cage-free systems are more labor-intensive and expensive to maintain. Producers also face significant costs when converting their facilities from traditional cage-based setups.

Michigan joins approximately a dozen other states that have enacted similar restrictions on the sale of eggs from caged chickens, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.