{"text":[[{"start":8.469999999999999,"text":"At the Trader Joe’s grocery store in west Manhattan, freezing temperatures have failed to stop hordes of people waiting outside for the store to open at 8am. "},{"start":16.837,"text":"Most are here to snag an increasingly rare and highly in-demand item — a dozen eggs. "}],[{"start":22.53,"text":"When the doors open, the rush leaves Daniel, a Trader Joe’s employee, scrambling to prevent people pushing one another or snatching up more than the store’s limit of a single egg carton per customer. "},{"start":32.822,"text":"At noon, when a midday egg delivery allows Trader Joe’s to restock, the entire scene plays out again. "}],[{"start":39.86,"text":"The worst outbreak of avian flu in US history has forced farmers across the country to cull millions of egg-laying chickens, according to the US agriculture department, resulting in a widespread egg shortage. "},{"start":50.702,"text":"The wholesale price of a dozen Midwest large eggs has jumped from less than $3 a year ago to almost $9, according to commodity price information service Expana. "}],[{"start":60.239999999999995,"text":"In his address to Congress this week, Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden for letting egg prices get “out of control”. "},{"start":66.457,"text":"His plan to lower prices includes investment in research on avian flu and importing tens of millions of eggs from overseas. "},{"start":72.937,"text":"Still, experts say it could take months for the price and supply of eggs to return to normal. "}],[{"start":78.88,"text":"In the meantime, the shortage has resulted in frenzied demand, bizarre behaviour and high levels of stress for workers in retail and hospitality. "},{"start":86.872,"text":"“My job is basically just eggs now,” says Daniel, who compares the drama to the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when supply-chain disruptions left stores with bare shelves. "}],[{"start":97.24,"text":"“It’s not just me either, eggs are the number one thing everyone here gets asked about all day,” he adds. "}],[{"start":103.69,"text":"Restaurants, including nationwide chains Waffle House and Denny’s, have opted to impose a surcharge on egg dishes to account for the higher prices. "},{"start":111.919,"text":"Servers say angry customers are taking out their frustration by reducing tips. "}],[{"start":117.11,"text":"Some shoppers are recouping their money in unorthodox ways. "},{"start":120.739,"text":"“Two large organic free range eggs, fresh and in original carton,” read one advert I spotted on Facebook Marketplace. "},{"start":127.544,"text":"The eggs, priced at $3, were left over from baking a birthday cake. "},{"start":132.124,"text":"The New Yorker who posted them obviously decided they were too valuable to leave sitting in the back of the fridge. "}],[{"start":138.35,"text":"Elsewhere, egg thefts are up. "},{"start":140.84199999999998,"text":"At Luna Park Cafe in Seattle, owner Heong Soon Park arrived one day last month to find two men stealing more than 500 eggs from the restaurant’s outdoor walk-in refrigerator. "},{"start":150.634,"text":"They also took meat, fruit and liquid egg products worth nearly $800, according to Seattle police. "}],[{"start":157.53,"text":"But few have felt the pain of the avian flu outbreak as much as the people who work at the country’s industrial farms. "}],[{"start":163.68,"text":"“Antonia” works at a chicken processing plant in Arkansas. "},{"start":167.247,"text":"She asked that I withhold her real name because she is not authorised to speak publicly about her job. "},{"start":172.377,"text":"Antonia immigrated to the US from El Salvador in 2000 in search of a job to support her family and has spent the past 23 years working six eight-hour shifts each week. "},{"start":181.607,"text":"The production line is usually so frenetic that workers regularly get injured, she said. "}],[{"start":186.77,"text":"In the past few weeks, however, her shifts have ended four hours early, if they happen at all, as the plant’s stock of poultry dries up. "},{"start":194.512,"text":"Supervisors told Antonia and her co-workers that the birds they would have received had to be killed but refused to say why. "},{"start":200.804,"text":"After speaking with workers at nearby plants, Antonia is certain that the reason is bird flu. "}],[{"start":206.83,"text":"“I need more money in my cheque,” Antonia said. "},{"start":210.00900000000001,"text":"“You have to have at least 40 hours to make ends meet the way life is now, the way things are with inflation. ”"}],[{"start":215.93,"text":"The Trump administration plans to stabilise the national supply of eggs by focusing on relief for farmers. "},{"start":222.047,"text":"But Antonia and the worker advocacy group she is a part of, Venceremos, hopes for more substantial change. "}],[{"start":229.25,"text":"If this shortage makes wealthier grocery shoppers and diners look at the overcrowded factories that contributed to avian flu’s spread, perhaps they will demand higher standards. "},{"start":238.10399999999998,"text":"The great American egg crisis could prove the breaking point for unsustainable food production. "}],[{"start":242.79,"text":""}]],"url":"https://d33mkcasurz97s.cloudfront.net/album/195647-1741242526.mp3"}