Vegan Egg Demand Soars Amid US Egg Shortage

Demand for vegan eggs is experiencing rapid growth in the US, in what could prove a watershed moment for the plant-based market.

The US has seen egg shortages and record high prices in recent months. This, according to a new report, has created a key opportunity for cruelty-free companies to thrive. Vegan egg brands are ramping up production and in some cases lowering prices – making more affordable egg alternatives increasingly accessible to US consumers.

Josh Tetrick, the CEO of Californian food tech company Eat Just, which runs plant-based egg market leader JUST Egg, said that January sales of his mung bean-based product grew at five times the rate of the previous year. In addition to this, 56 percent of shoppers have returned to buy more, a three-point increase from 2024. Its products are available at retailers like Walmart and Whole Foods, where they are increasingly the only egg product available. “Egg shelves are empty, except for one product, and it happens to be made from plants,” he told Green Queen. “It’s both an extraordinary and strange moment.”

Empty egg shelves, except for vegan alternative JUST Egg, seem at Whole Foods — James Anderson / Alamy Stock Photo JUST Egg (seen at the top right) is often the only available egg product in stores

According to Tetrick, JUST Egg is cheaper than chicken eggs in some parts of the country. He is also looking to make the process of extracting protein from mung beans, which makes up half of the company’s costs of production, more efficient to lower the cost even more. The company is also working on ways to scale up production to serve as many customers as possible. He said that his team is “prepared for even more orders than we might even anticipate.” Tetrick believes the egg shortage could be a key opportunity for the vegan industry as a whole to show the public that there are alternative and better ways to make the products people enjoy without the need for animal farming. “This is a real moment in time for the plant-based industry to prove that it’s up to the challenge,” he said.

Crackd to launch in the US

JUST Egg is currently dominating the US plant-based egg market, but other products look set to offer even more choice in the coming year. Crackd, which is the UK’s leading vegan egg provider, is launching in the US throughout 2025.

The product will debut at California’s Natural Product Expo West, which runs from March 5 to 7. It is expected to arrive in grocery stores in the months following.

“We are so excited to bring this beloved UK brand to American consumers,” said Jonathan Traub, president of Plant Heads Inc. US, as per Vegconomist. “Because the egg industry shortage is expected to continue at least through 2025, we think this is the perfect opportunity to provide a versatile, delicious – and available – answer for barren egg shelves and soaring prices in supermarkets.”

The growing threat of bird flu

Egg prices have been a highly publicized issue, with prices for a dozen rising to an average of $4.95 last month. This cost is almost twice as high as January 2024. Bird flu is a primary cause of the egg shortage, as millions of birds have been culled across the country.

While the egg shortage continues to dominate media headlines, experts say there are far more serious issues related to the current bird flu outbreak.

Last week, it was reported that Nevada had seen its first human case of bird flu. The infected individual was a farm worker who had been in close contact with farmed cows. They were found to have the D1.1 genotype of H1N1 avian flu, a new strain that emerged in wild birds late last year and subsequently jumped to farmed chickens and mammals. D1.1 carries a mutation that may enable it to replicate in mammalian cells. This could allow for mammal-to-mammal transmission, which would mark a significant pandemic risk.

Even for individuals and businesses unaffected by rising egg prices, moving towards plant-based alternatives is regarded as a key way to help mitigate the chances of another pandemic.