The Mexican-American population is just 17% of the total population, but is responsible for as much as 31% of shell egg consumption in the United States, assuming the population group consumes eggs in the United States at the same rate as Mexico consumption.
If the Mexican-American population’s use of eggs slips to that of the average U.S. consumer, shell egg consumption would fall by 20.8 million cases per year, and total per capita consumption would slip, Don McNamara, executive director of the Egg Nutrition Center, Washington, D.C., said at the United Egg Producers annual meeting last month in San Antonio. He noted that Mexico has the world’s highest per capita consumption of shell eggs at 321, while the United States, at 171, is in the “upper middle range.”
In his view, the industry is not doing enough to promote to the Mexican-American population, and promotion should include efforts to the Spanish media. “If no effort is made to retain them, we will lose them,” McNamara said.
