SEOUL: Moon Hong-nam, a pastry chef in Seoul, needs at least 15,000 eggs a day to bake cakes, but after South Korea’s worst outbreak of bird flu and a surge in the prices of eggs, he is considering changing his menu.
“We can ride it out through Christmas with what (supplies) we have secured,” said Moon, who works at the LÈSCARGOT bakery in the South Korean capital. “But if (bird flu) continues until January, we will have to raise prices inevitably and make bakery items that do not need eggs.”
About 20 million birds, nearly a quarter of South Korea’s poultry stock, have been culled to control the outbreak. Most of the birds culled are egg-laying hens.
The flu has spread in other parts of Asia as well, particularly in Japan.
In South Korea, the average retail price for 30 eggs has risen nearly 25 percent to 6,781 won ($5.68) since the outbreak began on Nov.18, — the highest in more than three years, according to state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.
According to data from the institution, it is the highest month-on-month increase in egg prices in nearly a decade.
The price hike is putting a dent in the wallets of Koreans, who usually eat more eggs in the winter, including in bread and kimbap, a Korean sushi roll.
Feeling the supply pinch, Lee Sang-hyup, the 55-year-old owner of Jeonju Restaurant, said he has cut down the amount of fluffy steamed eggs served free with the main dish, spicy braised hairtail fish.
“If I can’t have enough eggs, then I have no choice but to stop serving it,” said Lee, adding that it was the first time since he started the restaurant three years ago that he was rationing portions of the side dish.
Besides the price increases, some stores are restricting egg purchases.
“We are limiting the amount of egg trays each customer can buy to one because of the egg supply shortage, and it seems it will last for five to six months so we will continue to restrict egg purchases for a while,” said Lee Won-il, a manager at Nonghyup, one of the country’s supermarket chains.
To ease the shortage, South Korea’s agriculture ministry is seeking to import egg-laying chickens and eggs from the United States, Spain and New Zealand.
Analysts said the egg shortage is expected to last at least one year as it could take up to two years for egg and poultry industry to raise baby chickens and rebuild flocks.
“Economic losses caused by (avian influenza) is estimated to cost up to 1.4 trillion won ($1.17 billion) if 30 percent of Korea’s poultry population gets infected,” said Chung Min, an analyst at Hyundai Research Institute.
CHICKEN SALES
Although egg consumption is likely to be steady despite the higher prices, the bird flu has cut into sales of chicken meat.
Lee at the Nonghyup store said chicken sales had dropped 25 percent since the bird flu outbreak, while pork sales jumped about 30 percent.
Other major discount stores also saw a drop in chicken sales despite discounts. Chicken sales at E-Mart fell 15.4 percent in the first 15 days of December from a year earlier, whereas imported pork sales surged about 85 percent during the same period, according to E-Mart data.
Kim Dong-jin, manager at Korea Poultry Association, said the recent bird flu outbreak poses a serious threat to the poultry industry as it could lose market share to imported chicken meat from Brazil and the United States, while it can’t supply enough eggs.
“(Korean poultry farmers) are in a double whammy situation,” said Kim.
“The government needs to come up with better measures to ease (farmers’) concerns.”
Eggs in short supply as South Korea battles worst bird flu outbreak
Eggs in short supply as South Korea battles worst bird flu outbreak
Regional health organization issues alert as measles cases surge across the Americas
- In the first three weeks of 2026, PAHO confirmed 1,031 new measles cases across seven countries — a staggering 43-fold increase compared to the same period last year
MEXICO CITY: The Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, on Wednesday issued a new epidemiological alert following a surge of measles cases across the Americas, with Mexico reporting the highest numbers. It also called for urgent vaccination campaigns, highlighting that 78 percent of recent cases involved unvaccinated people.
The alert follows Canada’s loss of measles-free status in November — a setback the United States and Mexico could soon mirror. While both governments have requested a two-month extension to contain their respective outbreaks, the situation is complicated by the Trump administration’s January withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the parent agency of PAHO.
Current data is discouraging; the upward trend persists with only months remaining before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off across the three North American host nations.
In the first three weeks of 2026, PAHO confirmed 1,031 new measles cases across seven countries — a staggering 43-fold increase compared to the same period last year.
While no deaths have been reported thus far, the concentration remains high: Mexico leads with 740 cases, followed by the United States with 171 and Canada with 67.
The state of Jalisco, in western Mexico, has recorded the country’s highest incidence rate this year, following last year’s major outbreaks in Chihuahua and neighboring Texas.
In the United States, public health attention has shifted toward South Carolina, where cases are rising. In response, the Mexican government has spent weeks urging the public to receive the two-dose vaccine.
Authorities have even established mobile vaccination clinics in high-traffic hubs like airports and bus terminals, while in the capital, Mayor Clara Brugada launched 2,000 new vaccination modules this week.
“Everyone under 49 years of age, please get vaccinated,” Brugada urged on Tuesday, emphasizing that the vaccine is now accessible throughout the city. To maximize reach, the new modules are being stationed outside health centers and within major subway stations, bringing the campaign directly to the city’s busiest transit corridors.
PAHO’s alert follows a year of sustained growth in measles cases — the highest in five years — driven by a global resurgence and what the agency describes as “persistent immunization gaps.”
While adolescents and young adults account for the largest volume of cases, the highest incidence rates are striking children under the age of one. The disparity underscores a critical need to reinforce second-dose coverage.
Regional data is grim: only 33 percent of countries have reached the 95 percent threshold for the first vaccine dose, and a mere 20 percent have achieved it for the second.
