Egg Purchases Restricted At One Hoboken Supermarket

HOBOKEN, NJ — You can try to put all your eggs in one basket, but you may have to take them back out.

An epidemic of bird flu, or avian influenza, continues to spread across the country — decimating farmers' flocks across the country, farmers say, and affecting more than 1.5 million birds since 2022.

As a result, some supermarkets around the county are limiting how many cartons of eggs consumers can buy at once.

At Hoboken Trader Joe's, a sign appeared for the first time this week saying customers could only buy one carton of eggs (see photo above).

Prices have remained steady at the supermarket, with eggs priced at $3.49 to $5.79 in the store, as they have been for months. The USDA reported this week that egg prices have risen this month in other states to more than $7 per dozen.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday that egg prices hit a record high last month of $4.95 per carton.

At Kings Fresh supermarket on Hudson Street in Hoboken, there was no limit on egg purchases on Wednesday. The $4.99 cartons of Eggland eggs were sold out, but $6.29 Lucerne eggs were available.

At Shoprite, eggs are selling for $5.49 and up per carton.

First Human Death

The Centers for Disease Control has been updating the spread of the virus, including to dairy cattle and humans.

There have been 66 confirmed cases of humans with H5N1 bird flu in the United States since 2024, and 67 since 2022, the CDC says.

The first human death in the United States was last month, they said, in Louisiana.

News reports said a new human case was reported in Ohio on Wednesday.