AUSTRALIAN egg farmers are reassuring customers there is no need to fear food shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers have limited egg purchases along with other household staples in response to panic buying, but any absence of eggs in stores is purely demand driven and not a reflection of the continuity of supply.
To date, there has been no impact on egg production or supply and Australian Eggs managing director Rowan McMonnies is reminding people that Australia is a food secure nation. Mr McMonnies said, “Australia’s 21 million hens are still laying eggs and farmers are working around the clock to get those eggs to their customers.”
“We’re confident of maintaining steady supply through autumn and winter, and there will be eggs readily available when the short-term stockpiling and panic buying stops. “Of course, egg farmers are concerned about the potential impact of coronavirus on their staff and wider supply chains, though there have been no reports of disruptions across the industry.”
The government has recognised how important it is that essential services like food industries continue to operate. The industry is working with authorities to ensure measures put in place to protect public health can still ensure a steady supply of eggs. Individual egg farms are reconfiguring their operations to minimise risk, with strategies to limit disruption to the farm should one employee become infected.
“We have had to rethink the way we do things to provide for stricter team separation and social distancing principles applied in public,” Mr McMonnies said.
“These measures will go a long way to mitigating risk and underpin continuity of egg supply for Australian consumers.”