Bird flu hits McDonald's Australia breakfast hours

João da Silva Business reporter The fast food giant McDonald's in Australia has had to temporarily shorten its breakfast hours due to an egg shortage caused by a bird flu outbreak. Now, McDonald's is only serving its full breakfast menu until 10:30am instead of the usual midday. They said they are working closely with farmers and suppliers to manage the egg supply. In the past two months, several strains of bird flu have been detected in 11 poultry facilities across southeast Australia. The government says they have the situation under control but warned that consumers might see some empty shelves in the short term. They are redirecting supplies to areas with the most need and asked people not to buy more eggs than necessary. Bird flu has affected fewer than 10% of Australia's egg-laying hens, but some businesses have imposed limits on how many eggs people can purchase. The outbreaks have led to the culling of about 1. 5 million chickens in Australia. So far, none of the strains detected have been the H5N1 variant of bird flu, which has spread through bird and mammal populations globally, infecting billions of animals and a small number of humans. McDonald's Australia said in a statement to the BBC that they are carefully managing the supply of eggs due to the current industry challenges and are working closely with their network of Aussie farmers, producers, and suppliers as the industry comes together to manage this challenge.