moeburn t1_j5hii68 wrote on January 23, 2023 at 1:11 AM

Reply to comment by PMmeserenity in US investigating baby formula plant after national shortage by nosotros_road_sodium

> Canada’s laws haven’t helped it avoid egg price fluctuations,

That's exactly what they do.

>Canada had just been lucky enough to avoid significant bird flu before 2022

Right... the bird flu epidemic causing steep increase in egg prices in US and UK and elsewhere was in 2022. Hence the prices today, in 2023. We were all affected by it, but your country is seeing more expensive price increases because of it than mine because of a different policy.

>in Toronto the average price is $4.45.

I don't know where you got that number, but that's okay, because I got my own numbers, and they're both in the same currency, $USD:

https://i.imgur.com/arliV75.png (https://www.expatistan.com/price/eggs/toronto/USD)

https://i.imgur.com/5W0sJt0.png (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111)

So people in Toronto are paying 3/4 what people in major US cities are paying for a dozen eggs.

Especially weird considering almost everything is almost always more expensive in Canada due to our smaller population and lack of economies of scale.

PMmeserenity t1_j5hl8yr wrote on January 23, 2023 at 1:31 AM

> I don't know where you got that number

It's in the article I linked.

And even if what you say is true, I'd rather not pay extra for eggs all the time to avoid rare price spikes. There's plenty of other foods to eat, and no reason to tolerate constant inefficiency (both carbon footprint and cost) in order to make sure prices don't fluctuate. It's not like those controls will help you avoid inflation overall, just occasional spikes. If my whole grocery bill is smaller in the US, why does it matter that eggs cost more sometimes?

And the reason everything is more expensive in Canada (and I agree, it is, at least where I travel for work) might have something to do with these price controls.

There's a lot of things about the US that deserve criticism, but food supply really isn't it. If there's anything we are good at, it's making a ton of commodity foods, cheap.