Dive Brief:
- Food companies are becoming increasingly concerned about potential egg shortages following bird flu contaminations that have wreaked havoc on these companies' egg suppliers.
- Hampton Creek is offering a potential solution: a plant-based egg substitute, for which the company has already been fielding calls.
- General Mills was sent tens of thousands of pounds of Hampton Creek's Just Mix powdered egg substitute to use in its processed products, such as Betty Crocker cake mixes and refrigerated cookie dough.
Dive Insight:
Because some countries have now banned U.S. egg exports due to the bird flu, food companies hoped that would alleviate some of the strain on the egg supply. However, exports only account for about 5% of U.S. egg production.
For some companies, particularly processed food companies and intermediaries like Cargill Kitchen Solutions, which provides eggs to restaurants like McDonald's, egg substitutes could be an at least temporary solution to the problem.