Affordable Eggs As Common As Hens' Teeth

Supporters of the deal between U.S. egg producers and animal-rights advocates to double the size of the cages used for laying hens might take note of the following news report out of Great Britain: 

Supermarket shelves could be empty of key products within a month as an acute shortage of eggs threatens to have serious consequences for the country's food chain. New EU rules banning the housing of hens in conventional cages are being blamed for what some in the industry are already labeling a “crisis” ... The price of eggs on the European Union wholesale market has nearly quadrupled over the past week to more than four Euros a kilo.

HOTH anticipates similar problems in this country under legislation writing into law an agreement between U.S. egg producers and the Humane Society of the United States to increase the size of laying-hen cages from 67 square inches to 124 square inches. The bill, H.R. 3798, was introduced in January by Rep. Kurt Shrader, D-Ore.