US egg shortage won't be solved by Finland
yle.fi
"The amount we could export would not solve their egg shortage," says the head of the Finnish Poultry Association.

Summary

Finland has declined a U.S. request to export eggs amid a severe American shortage caused by bird flu.

The Finnish Poultry Association cited the lack of prior trade agreements and complex regulatory hurdles. Even if exports were possible, Finland’s limited egg production would not significantly impact the U.S. crisis.

Other European nations, including Sweden and Denmark, also face difficulties meeting U.S. demand, while Europe grapples with its own egg shortages.

The U.S. has turned to countries like Turkey and the Netherlands for supplies as bird flu remains a global issue.

  • Paddzr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    Explain to me like I’m 5… Can we not just stop butchering chickens for few days and get them to lay eggs to “catch” up? Or are those chickens too far removed from normal chickens that they no longer lay eggs?

    • houseofleft@slrpnk.netEnglish
      17·
      1 day ago

      Key thing to bear in mind is that we think of “chicken” as a single animal, but industrial farming has selectively bred chickens into very different camps.

      Meat chickens grow very big very quickly, and are killed for meat long before adulthood. You’d need to pause production a long enough time for them to grow into adulthood, then they would eventually lay eggs, but at a much slower rate than egg chickens, and requiring a lot more food (because of how big they are)

      • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        31·
        1 day ago

        plus, the eggs they lay would not be egg chickens. they would be eating chickens. and all of them are dying en masse to the flu.

        and chickens lay whether the eggs are fertilized or not. kinda like how humans menstruate, but, like, much bigger, and we eat it even if we don’t think they’re cute.

    • Dojan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      1 day ago

      They’re being killed because of the avian flu pandemic that’s currently going on. Dead poultry generally doesn’t lay eggs.

      You still have legumes available.