South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Scramble to stop smuggling
As US egg prices surge, officials encounter more people trying to bring them in from Mexico
From California to Texas, border agents are increasingly seizing a surprising type of contraband from Mexico: eggs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had more than 2,000 encounters with people trying to bring eggs into the United States from Mexico between Nov. 1 and Jan. 17, an agency spokesperson said. In the same 11-week period a year earlier, there were about 460 such encounters.
The rise comes as the price of eggs in the United States has surged, driven in part by an outbreak of bird flu that was detected last February.
Roger Maier, the Customs and Border Protection spokesperson, said in an email Tuesday that the agency had noted an increase in people attempting to bring eggs to the United States from Mexico, where “they are significantly less expensive.”
The 2,002 recent encounters involving eggs were reported by field offices in San Diego; Tucson, Arizona; Laredo, Texas; and El Paso, Texas, and they do not represent the total number of eggs seized. The biggest increase was in San Diego, where the encounters jumped to 1,077 from 230, a 368% jump.
Maier did not say how many eggs were seized. In an email, he said that “this is not necessarily smuggling but rather increased encounters of people traveling with eggs.”
Customs and Border Protection officials in San Diego and El Paso issued warnings on Twitter last week to remind people that they were not allowed to bring uncooked eggs from Mexico into the United States.
The agency said in a news release that there had been a “large increase” in the volume of prohibited food items, including eggs and raw poultry, brought in from Mexico.
This increase in egg contraband coincides with a sharp rise in egg prices in the United States. The average price for a dozen large Grade A eggs rose to $4.25 from $1.92 between January and December 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At grocery stores in Mexico last week, the wholesale price for a 2.2 pounds of eggs, which is more than a dozen jumbo eggs, was between about $1.59 and $2.71, according to figures collected by the Mexican government.
Bird flu, which has been cited as a factor behind the sharp rise in egg prices, is a highly contagious virus that is often fatal to chickens. The outbreak has affected more than 58 million birds in hundreds of commercial and backyard flocks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By the end of 2022, more than 43 million egg-laying hens had died from the disease or had been culled to prevent the virus from spreading, according to the department.
Customs and Border Protection said in a news release that the threat of bird flu underscored the importance of laws that bar people from bringing agricultural items across the border. The laws are in place because agricultural items, such as plants and animals, can harbor pests and spread diseases that harm the environment, crops and livestock.
People entering the United States are required to declare to officials if they have items including meat, fruit, vegetables, animals and seeds in their luggage or vehicle. If border officers find these types of items, and they have not been declared, travelers can face civil penalties up to $1,000.