Egg shortage brought on by avian flu hits pie company

A shortage of egg products brought on by the 2015 avian influenza outbreak has prompted Kansas City-based Tippin’s to suspend the production of its signature French silk pies.
The company, which supplies hand-crafted pies to restaurants and grocery stores in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, announced that it is working on different solutions to solve the problem. But for now, Tippin’s decided that it would be best to halt the production of the pies.
“We are currently looking into alternative sources of eggs for our French silk pies, but the ingredients in this pie are very special, and not easily replaced. At Tippin’s we believe that if you are going to change anything it has to be as good as or better than current,” stated Mark Boyer, president of Tippin’s. “If the alternative options aren’t up to par with Tippin’s quality, then it’s back to the kitchen to keep trying.”
Avian influenza’s impact on the egg products market has been huge, as Dr. Thomas Elam, economist and president, FarmEcon LLC,  pointed out in May that at the time, Iowa had lost at least 22.5 million laying hens, and about 85 percent of the layers lost in Iowa were producing eggs for the egg products market.
Bookmark the WATTAgNet avian influenza update page for news and analysis concerning how avian influenza is impacting the global poultry industry.