As egg prices soar, US Customs and Border Protection cracks down on egg smuggling

As consumers face skyrocketing egg prices, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports an increase of people attempting to smuggle eggs across the border from Mexico.

As consumers face skyrocketing egg prices, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports an increase of people attempting to smuggle eggs across the border from Mexico. The CBP’s San Diego Field Office reported Thursday seeing a 158% increase in egg interceptions since the fiscal year of 2024. A CBP spokesperson told CNN the agency has seen a 29% increase in eggs being detained at ports of entry this fiscal year when compared to the same time-period in the last fiscal year (October 2023 – February 2024). Egg prices have jumped to all-time highs due in part to an outbreak of avian flu, or bird flu, that has been afflicting egg-laying hens in the US since 2022. Across the past three years, about 166 million birds have been affected by the deadly avian flu, according to the US Agriculture Department. “It is critical that we keep our traveling public informed to safeguard our agricultural industry while continuing to facilitate legitimate trade and travel,” Sidney Aki, CBP director of field operations in San Diego said in a statement Thursday. Speaking with CNN from near the Mexico border, San Diego resident Johnny Williams described how “one time I got to see how a man who tried to cross 24 eggs to the US and CBP agents confiscated them. I really think it’s an exaggeration with the egg prices in the US.”