CANBERRA: Good luck getting a late-morning McMuffin in Australia.
McDonald’s has cut breakfast service timings by 1-1/2 hours, the company said, after a shortage of eggs caused by bird flu outbreaks that have led to the slaughter of about 1.5 million chickens.
“Like many retailers, we are carefully managing supply of eggs due to current industry challenges,” McDonald’s said on Facebook, adding that from Tuesday it would stop serving breakfast at 10.30am instead of the usual time of midday.
“We are working hard with our Aussie farmers and suppliers to return this back to normal as soon as possible,” the fast food company said.
Australia is battling outbreaks of several strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza that have struck 11 poultry facilities, most of them egg farms, in its southeast since May.
None of the strains are the H5N1 variant of bird flu that has spread through bird and mammal populations worldwide, infecting billions of animals and a small number of humans.