Australian egg farmers are reassuring customers there is no need to fear food shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Retailers have limited egg purchases alongside other household staples in response to panic buying but any absence of eggs in stores is purely demand driven, and not a reflection of 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.
"Australia's 21 million hens are still laying eggs and farmers are working around the clock to get those eggs to their customers," Mr McMonnies said.
"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 but there have been no reports of disruptions across the industry."
Governments recognise the importance of essential services like food industries continuing to operate and the egg 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 also reconfiguring their operations to minimise the risk that one infected employee could disrupt a whole farm.
"We've had to rethink the way we do things to provide for stricter team separation and some of the same social distancing principles that are being applied in public. These measures will go a long way to mitigating risks and will underpin continuity of egg supply for Australian consumers," Mr McMonnies said.
