The last time egg prices spiked this much in one month, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar's "Bad Blood" dominated the airwaves.
Egg prices rose by 15.2% from December to January, the biggest month-over-month increase since June 2015. The average price of a dozen Grade A large eggs hit an all-time high of $4.95.
Egg prices contributed to overall inflation rising to 3% year over year in January and were a major driver of a jump in grocery prices. Eggs weren't the only category with a price spike — the Bureau of Labor Statistics said rising housing costs were responsible for almost a third of total inflation last month, and gas and energy prices crept up as well.
Still, a worsening bird flu crisis continues to hit shoppers in the egg aisle.
"The H5N1 bird flu sweeping through the U.S. agriculture industry is forcing farmers to cull infected birds and sending egg prices soaring, a big supply-side shock to food prices," Bill Adams, the chief economist for Comerica Bank, said in a statement.
To prevent hoarding, some grocery stores are cracking down on how many eggs a shopper can purchase at once. A Trader Joe's spokesperson recently told Business Insider that its limit was one carton per customer per day.
"We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joe's," the spokesperson said.
Restaurants are also struggling with high prices. Waffle House recently added a temporary surcharge for egg orders.
"The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices," Waffle House told CNN. "Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions."
Fresh whole milk and white bread are also more expensive than they were before the pandemic. The average price of coffee is higher than it was just a few years ago, too.
In a statement to BI, Mark Hamrick, Bankrate's senior economic analyst, described coffee and eggs as outliers that "can aggravate many consumers who sometimes mistakenly see the anecdotal cases of inflation as an indication of general inflation." He added that that's not always true.
"There are specific reasons why eggs and coffee have been moving up on their own, issues that are not easily resolved," Hamrick said.
