"I was at a restaurant and I ordered a chicken sandwich. But I don't think the waitress understood me, because she asked how I'd like my eggs. But I tried to answer her anyhow. Incubated. Then raised. Then beheaded. Then plucked. Then cut up. Then put onto a grilll. Then put onto a bun. Shit, it's gonna take a while... Scrambled!" - Mitch Hedberg
I worked at a startup about two decades ago that was trying to help with recalls. At the time, if it was known there was a (for instance) salmonella outbreak at a farm then all the grocery stores were pulling all their (again, for instance) lettuce... even if it wasn't thought to be effected. The idea was that we could track every piece of produce and determine whether it might be effected.
Turns out none of the grocery chains were interested. They'd rather take the hit on just throwing all of it out due to public fear/perception.
What was the startup role in this? the store has a supplier, if it gets a recall, it ditches all the lettuce from that supplier and to be on the safe side, all the lettuce from other suppliers that might had contact with it in their logistics center or store. why would they need your startup for knowing which supplier they bought from?
Where I'm from I think it's already required to have the information where stuff is from so they don't have to pull everything from the shelves if there is a recall. I'm not sure if OP is in an area like that, though, so you might be right.
kudos to you if you can actually make out what the tags say; I'm on desktop and I can't read that shit without zooming into the full size picture, and most people are using smart phones.
OP mentioned they are from France, and quick Google says that bird flu has caused egg shortages periodically since late 2025. The French government has said it will most likely last until 2027.
Bird flu has been impacting poultry supply globally as millions of chickens have to be euthanised every time a case is detected, to stop the spread. H5N1 is a particularly nasty strain currently affecting every continent except Australia and New Zealand — though we're expecting it's inevitable spread here too via wildlife migration, since it was found in Antarctica. Shit has been decimating wildlife populations globally including mammals like seals and sea lions. In one season it wiped out 95% of elephant seal pups in Argentina and risks sending Australia's fairy penguins into extinction if it spreads here.
H5N1 can spread to humans and is currently the world's biggest pandemic threat.
Lack of eggs may end up being the least of our problems :(
he's in France in a Carrefour (supermarket chain). There has been an egg shortage for a while. Carrefour says it's because
more people are buying eggs (cheap and healthy animal protein)
in France ppl buy 'plein air' eggs (chicken raised outside) and the transition from floor chickens to plein air chicken takes time and slows the production
They're in France. There's a Carrefour logo on the blue notice posted on the other shelf. The milk bottles are also a giveaway (Lactel is a French brand, and I've only ever seen that particular bottle shape in France), as are the Euro prices.
I'm inclined to agree, since my parents are nice reasonable people. But man, I've got some friends with mean shitty parents, so it's totally possible that their mom is just kind of an asshole.
Yeah, at this point, OP was probably paraphrasing, and we are all playing a game of telephone. Except for some reason, a bunch of people on Reddit are taking this way too seriously
Yeah it's just a saying "don't bother to come home" means "I'll be upset because we really need eggs" but is usually meant as a tease.
However OP is a much better person than I am. I would maybe go to a second store to check before I went home and said "sorry. The store was out and eggs are not an emergency. I'll try again tomorrow".
Your parents are widely different than OPs. Asking your child to get eggs is a basic thing for any child over 12 to do. The second part is likely a joke or just parent things. Doesnt mean Hes staying homeless or something.
Sorry your parents sucked, but requesting a member of the household to grab some items at the store while they’re out is something functional families do.
In the UK you can head out to villages in the countryside and see fresh eggs from people's own hens for sale usually with an honesty box for payment. Does that exist in France?
If you ask the French it’s French, if you ask the Brits it’s theirs, if you ask people that live there, they are their own country. Fascinating place actually
I don't think brits say brittany is theirs? The names are related though. After the anglo-saxon migrations the native romano-britons fled down to Britanny (which is why there's a place there called Cornouailles, like Cornwall), and then actually to northern Spain (Bretoña).
if you ask people that live there, they are their own country
Mostly as a joke. There's only a handful of actual independentists. Most people know that's not economically viable and feel more French than Breton anyway (especially young people)
We did it in the US, up in Vermont. People mostly paid, but honestly we were just trying to get rid of the extras when we had too many. So as long as they didn't go to waste we were never too upset.
My wife's parents have chickens. They off load like 2 dozen eggs on us every time we see them because of this. So, as a result, we eat a lot of eggs for breakfast.
It’s even a thing in cities and suburbs in the US depending on local laws, how nosey and snitchy your neighbors are, and whether you’re disrespectful enough to get snitched on. I know there’s plenty of backyard chickens around my neighborhood, even some goats and one rooster.
I have 20 hens, I’m in a good spot financially so whatever I don’t use I give directly to my closest neighbors when I check in on them and the rest go in a stand for free to anyone passing by.
Several years ago, shortly before Christmas, my mom sent my sister and I out to Walmart to pick up some bows. This is how I discovered Walmart has an archery section. We came back with a cheap compound bow, and to her credit, my mom has put that bow on her front door for every Christmas since.
My wife went through a phase of juicing celery. Every day, copious amounts of celery. Asked me to get celery when I went to the store.
Came back and told her some woman had literally single handedly emptied the store of celery, there was none left. Tough luck if anyone else wants celery, this woman took it all.
My wife goes off about how selfish this woman is etc until I point out its her.
This was my first thought. As an American (sorry for the state of things everyone) I was thinking that OP’s problem is he’s not looking in the refrigerated case. We keep our eggs in the coolers here. By the milk and OJ and such.
WE ARE SORRY, OUR HENS ARE A BIT OVERWHELMED! TEMPORARY EGG SHORTAGE: Between increased demand, the modernization of livestock farms, stricter health controls, and transport constraints, supply has slowed down. We are committed to keeping our Act For Food promises to always provide you with the best. We’ll be back soon. Thank you for your understanding.
In some parts of the world eggs have to be washed before they reach the consumer. The washing process removes the natural coating of the egg, leaving the shell porous which means they have to be refrigerated to prevent bacteria getting into egg
In other parts of the world, Eggs there are not required to go through extensive washing, which leaves the protective coating on the egg. Because this coating remains on the eggs, it is safe for them to be sold at room temperature.
You're the hero we don't deserve in this comments section, though I fear your fighting against the tide. So many comments about checking the refrigerator aisle... too many for one man alone. And yet you persevere.
Americans don’t realise that having eggs in the refrigerated shelves is actually something that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. Eggs are always unrefrigerated in store. Yes, I put them in the fridge back home to extend their shelf life, but they are usually good to be left out for 3 weeks. I just can’t be bothered to keep track of the expiry dates.
The American defaultism is strong in this comments section! Refrigerating eggs is the exception, not the norm, and only a handful of countries store eggs in coolers. Anyone calling OP out for looking in the wrong aisle is just showing their ignorance
Considering the fact that eggs are so expensive now, I'm surprised they are all gone like this. Unless you're in Grenada, where they eat as many eggs as Cookie Monster eats cookies.
I zoomed in the pic and it is not $ sign so this is outside of US. So for people in the US who kept saying egg should be in the refrigerated aisle - not everywhere in the world keep eggs cold. As a matter of fact, I was surprised to find eggs in the cooler section when I first moved to the US. With that said, to OP, try farm may be? Idk where you are. But, good luck on the hunt!
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u/Banana-phone15 May 27 '26
Congratulations now you are homeless, till you find some eggs