Washing and sorting egg farm operations.

(Photo by reporter Yan Hongjun)

[Reporter Yan Hongjun/Changhua Report] The issue of egg shortage has triggered a war of words between blue and green. Whether there is a shortage of eggs in the market has made the public confused!

Chiu Shih-chung, chairman of the Taiwan Fine Egg Products Association, said that it is a fact that bird flu has caused a shortage of eggs in the market and soaring feed prices. "Egg issue" to create confrontation and gain political benefits.

Qiu Shichong said that because of the unprecedented seriousness of bird flu this year, two strains of H5N1 and H5N1 appeared at once, and this winter was particularly cold, the egg laying rate of chickens was low, and the market was seriously short of eggs; as for the cost of raising chickens, before the outbreak of the epidemic, feed The price is 10.7 yuan per kilogram. Last year, the price of feed was soaring. It is now 17 yuan. It has not fallen so far. The cost of feed for egg farmers has risen by 70%. In addition, breeders rely on foreign imports, which has also risen sharply.

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Politicians are arguing that "there are eggs in the market and there are no eggs". Qiu Shichong said that Taiwan's egg production areas are all in the central and southern regions, and each sales point has a fixed supplier. If the "egg shortage issue" is ignored If there is hype, people may "scrape for goods". In the north or cities with a large population, they are far away from the production area and the replenishment is slow, and there may be no eggs on the shelves. This is a vicious circle, and there will be eggs in some places. , there are no eggs in some places.

Qiu Shichong pointed out that in order to prevent the shelves from being empty, the officials of the Council of Agriculture go to the production area to coordinate and care about the progress every day, and hope that the public will share the difficulties.

An egg farmer surnamed Xie in Erlin Township said that every time there is a shortage of eggs in the market, many celebrities and politicians instantly become "egg experts". Everyone's remarks are specious, or they attack randomly without knowing the facts. For example, Chen Jizhong, chairman of the Agricultural Committee, recently Saying "the lack of eggs is because of the cold weather, everyone eats hot pot" was criticized immediately.

He said that in the past, cheap eggs were mainly supplied to group meals, breakfast shops, buffets, etc., but in the past few years, small hot pot restaurants have opened one after another, and hot pot restaurants have also become the bulk of cheap eggs. Chen Jizhong’s statement is not wrong. Because hot pot restaurants use a lot of eggs now, but they are attacked just because of wrong semantic expressions.

He said that this "egg shortage crisis" is unprecedented. Everyone must be mentally prepared. After all, eggs cannot be produced all at once. From the import of breeder chickens to raising and laying eggs, it will take a certain amount of time. We should share the difficult times.