Does a video show thousands of eggs being destroyed in the United States during the egg shortage in 2023? No, that's not true: The video is from a company in Argentina that was forced by its government to destroy the eggs due to avian flu concerns. It was not in the United States as the video implies.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on May 1, 2023, under the title:
This is where you're egg shortage went
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed May 3 16:36:02 2023 UTC)
The 16-second video implies that the destruction of the eggs is causing the shortage in the United States. It's a short clip from a longer video posted by poultry company Avícola Santa Ana in Argentina on their Instagram page on April 15, 2023. Their watermark is visible in the video. The company was critical of the decision by Senasa, the National Service for Food Health and Quality in Argentina, ordering the destruction of their eggs after a positive test for avian flu.
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Wed May 3 16:50:15 2023 UTC)
Avícola Santa Ana's Instagram post included the caption (translated to English via Instagram):
Despite the NEGATIVE result of the tests on 4/13, we were forced to destroy 360,000 eggs suitable for consumption today. 😭 This sad image will be repeated day by day until the block imposed by SENASA ends. We want to go back to work‼️
According to an April 18, 2023, news report (translated by Google Chrome), "Argentina's health and quality agency, Senasa, ordered the destruction of an egg production after a test gave positive results in some hens, then in a second test the result was negative and the company is still prohibited from marketing the product."
The egg shortage in the United States was covered by national news outlets including The New York Times, which reported on January 12, 2023, "An avian flu outbreak and increasing costs of fuel, feed and packaging have contributed to an egg supply shortage and high prices in some parts of the country."
Lead Stories has also reported there's no evidence linking Bill Gates to the egg shortage in the U.S.
