Strategies for future-proofing your supply chain amid growing egg volatility

With US egg supply safety, pricing and supply fluctuating almost daily, CPG manufacturers and commercial bakeries need ingredient solutions to help address these issues. At Ardent Mills, we’re working with customers to implement both short- and long-term strategies for addressing pressing challenges while still creating products that deliver on consumer expectations.

In July, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) upgraded its most recent egg recall to a Class I risk level—the agency's highest alert category—due to a multistate Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak linked to nearly 2 million eggs.¹  Combined with sporadic price spikes in recent months, manufacturers are left wondering how to manage their supply chains and product availability with so much uncertainty surrounding an often critical ingredient in customer portfolios. 

We’re resharing a blog originally written in March 2025 that focuses on the volatility surrounding eggs as an ingredient. And while pricing isn't as high as when we first published this piece, there are many factors that make eggs no less unpredictable. Read on to learn more about the ingredient solutions Ardent Mills has developed to help our customers replace eggs in their formulations without sacrificing the product performance consumers expect.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected that already record-high egg prices could rise by as much as 40% in 2025. According to recent reporting by the Associated Press, "the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January (2025), eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of $2.04 that was recorded in August 2023."² 

Despite most of the media coverage focusing on the effect of egg price increases on consumers, the impact on retailers and manufacturers is even more pressing – with egg prices continuing to climb higher in wholesale markets as well. According to February USDA data, wholesale egg prices have risen by $0.40 in the past 30 days, bringing the cost for distributors to $7.44 per dozen.³ These rising costs (driven primarily by the avian flu outbreak) are creating significant challenges for large-scale food manufacturers, particularly commercial bakers and CPG brands that rely on eggs for products like cookies, cakes and muffins. 

When high prices are paired with ongoing supply disruptions caused by avian flu outbreaks, the costly combination is leaving organizations searching for cost-effective solutions to help them keep the bakery and snack aisles stocked with the foods consumers are seeking.

Ardent Mills began innovating egg replacement solutions several years before the recent price surges to give our customers options that could help address a variety of goals. While reducing cost is often top of mind for manufacturing operations, customers are also looking beyond cost savings to other business-critical objectives like consistent supply, application performance and the ability to strategically meet evolving consumer preferences with agility.