Someone In Pennsylvania Just Stole A Trailer Full Of Eggs

If the rising cost of eggs and empty shelves keeps you awake at night, you're not alone. Employees at Pete & Gerry's Organics in Greencastle, Pennsylvania went to work on Sunday morning to discover that an entire distribution trailer carrying over 100,000 eggs was stolen from the property. Given the high demand and astronomical cost of eggs these days, that's about $40,000 worth of merchandise.

Even though eggs aren't usually the most stolen food in the world, the little golden-yolk beauties have become a hot commodity. Outbreaks of the avian flu, otherwise known as H5N1, have created major supply chain issues and shortages of eggs on grocery store shelves, like the current shortage at Whole Foods. The thieves who stole the eggs from Pete & Gerry's Organics completed the act at about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, February 1, according to Pennsylvania State Police and have yet to be found.

"The thieves could sell them or even use them for vandalizing purposes," Trooper Megan Frazer, a Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman, told the New York Times in an email this week. "We don't know what purpose of stealing 100,000 would be for at this time. With the extreme increased price of eggs, someone may have thought they could sell them."

General panic about egg availability and cost stems from a multi-year outbreak of the avian flu among American poultry. The highly contagious avian influenza has led to the culling of over 150 million egg-laying chickens throughout all 50 states, with no corner of the country left unscathed. The number of birds affected by H5N1 continues to increase, with over 23 million confirmed cases in January 2025 alone. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a 20% increase in egg prices over the coming year. Soaring egg prices have caused breakfast chains like Waffle House to tag an additional 50-cent charge per egg that they serve — not exactly a great way to start the morning.

As for the great Pennsylvania egg heist this month, the trail has reportedly (or at least publicly) gone cold. Pete & Gerry's Organics claims to be modernizing its surveillance and altering the way it handles security, to "help prevent this from happening again." People on the internet are hatching their own theories about the egg thieves, pointing out that it couldn't have been too easy to drive away unscathed with an entire truck full of eggs. Police are working diligently to crack the case, with promises to update the public once the egg thieves are brought to justice.