Egg prices have become synonymous with inflation in the US, where the price of a dozen eggs roughly doubled in a year to reach a record $5.90 (around €5.40 or £4.54) in February 2025.

So far this year, US border officials have seized more eggs at the US border than fentanyl, the deadly drug which Donald Trump has used to justify tariffs on neighbouring Mexico and Canada.

US Customers and Border Protection (CBP) said it has seized 5,938 “egg products” in 2025 so far, compared to 1,631 pounds of fentanyl, according to Newsweek.

Seizures of black market eggs were up by 36 per cent between October 2024 and February 2025, compared with the same period in the previous year, The Times reports.

The US has also seen a spike in other egg-related crime, including the theft of 100,000 eggs in Pennsylvania and a restaurant robbery where the culprits made off with all the eggs in the kitchen.