Affordable options at the meat counter are dwindling as the price of chicken continues to rise.

Many people have reduced their consumption of beef because of the high cost, but that has put more pressure on the availability of chicken.

National experts are forecasting a 20–25 per cent jump in the price of the protein staple.

Sylvain Charlebois of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University says when a situation such as this arises, Atlantic Canada is usually hit harder than other areas of the country.

Charlebois says the situation has been developing for some time, which concerns them, because in his view it should not take too long for the industry to recalibrate.

He says you may still find affordable prices but the chicken may be an older bird than what you would normally get. “So it’s the same price, but not the same product,” he says.