"I need to keep the customers happy:" Spread of bird flu forces food businesses to boost prices

MILWAUKEE -- Humans can't catch the bird flu but rising egg prices might make you sick. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates more than 47 million birds have been affected by the disease. This has forced some poultry companies to suspend operations and boost prices -- now the customer is seeing the effects.

"I just love baking everyday," said Megan Rodriquez, Regina's Bakery Owner.

The owner of Regina's Bakery in Whitefish Bay loves to bake everyday. Even traditional chocolate, she can bake it all. What's inside the sweet treats is butter, sugar, flour, milk and eggs.

"Staple. Have to have them," said Rodriquez.

This bakery can go through 16lbs of eggs on a slow day just making cakes. On a busy day like today, at least 50lbs of eggs are cracked and measured. So when Rodriquez learned egg prices were up 56% last month she was shocked.

Some supermarkets have seen prices on a dozen eggs triple. Restaurants are limiting the number of eggs per customers and the hours they serve breakfast. The bird flu virus is to blame. It began spreading a few months ago and since then, farmers have lost 47 million hens and turkeys.

This marks the worst outbreak since 1983. Regina's like many places, is trying to compensate for high egg prices -- by raising hers.

"I just raised prices on cookies. So that was minimal," said Rodriquez.

Rodriquez even warned her customers about it, but that's where it stops she says.

"I'm going to just keep everything else the same. My focus is I need to keep the customers happy," said Rodriquez.

As for the rising prices on her end, Rodriquez says "we're just going to deal with it."

Help might be on the way soon from overseas. The USDA said certain certified facilities in the Netherlands are now eligible to export processed egg products to the U.S.