US grocery chain rations eggs as avian flu fears hit supplies

Washington

IN recent days, an ominous sign has appeared throughout Texas. "Eggs (are) not for commercial sale," read warnings, printed on traditional 81/2-by-11-inch pieces of white paper and posted at H-E-B grocery stores across Texas. "The purchase of eggs is limited to 3 cartons of eggs per customer."

H-E-B, which operates some 350 supermarkets, is one of the largest chains not only in the state, but in the whole country. And it has begun, as the casual but foreboding notices warn, to ration its eggs.