As the cost of eggs in the U.S. surges, more people are attempting to bring eggs across the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities say.
Amid a bird flu outbreak that has caused chicken populations to decline, eggs are disappearing from store shelves. And more people are popping across the border to do their egg buying.
There was a 29% increase in eggs being confiscated at ports of entry between October 2024 and February compared with the same time period last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“It’s common practice to get some groceries or medication and cross the border,” Joaquin Luken, executive director of the Smart Border Coalition, told NBC San Diego, and he said people may not realize raw eggs are on the prohibited list.
But he advised that anyone with eggs declare them at the border. The eggs will remain with agents, but he said the shopper is more likely to be warned rather than fined.
“Importation of raw/fresh eggs from Mexico into [the] United States is generally prohibited due to concerns about diseases such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Virulent Newcastle disease,” according to a statement from the CBP.
Travelers are prohibited from bringing eggs, raw chicken and live birds into the U.S. from Mexico, the statement says. They should also declare all agriculture products to CBP officers and agriculture specialists or face potential fines.
The CBP says civil penalties for failure to declare prohibited agricultural products may “range up to $1,000 per first-time offense for non-commercial quantities.”
Sidney K. Aki, Customs and Border Protection’s director of field operations for San Diego, wrote in a Jan. 15 post on X that there had been an uptick in eggs being intercepted at the ports of entry.
The average price for a dozen eggs nationwide has gone up in the last year to a record high of $4.95 in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The surge in egg prices has been attributed to an outbreak of avian flu that’s depleting chicken populations. The epidemic has led to the deaths of more than 21 million chickens and 13 million in the month of December alone.
The population of conventionally caged chickens has been depleted by 8%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
There have been 68 confirmed bird flu cases and one death in the U.S., with outbreaks occurring among poultry and dairy cows, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
