The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a request to change a 16-year-old rule that some believe is contributing to the current egg shortage caused by avian flu. 

The National Chicken Council petitioned the FDA last month. Dr. Ashley Peterson, the Senior Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at the Council, said that under the rule, about 400 million eggs each year go to waste. 

"Absolutely, " Peterson said. "That's a lot of eggs." 

The Council's request to the FDA comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a $1 billion plan to combat avian flu and lower egg prices. 

The government found the price of a dozen grade "A" eggs jumped to $4.95 in January, a 53% increase from the same month one year ago. The USDA said egg prices could climb 41% this year. Egg prices have caught the attention of President Donald Trump. 

"We have to get the prices down, not the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things," said Mr. Trump. "Eggs are a disaster."

The National Chicken Council represents farmers who raise chickens for meat. 

Last month, Peterson petitioned the FDA to change its rule. 

In her petition, Peterson said, "FDA's decision.. has resulted in significant cost to Americans and needlessly deprived American consumers of millions of servings of high-quality egg protein." 

She said changing the rule "would relieve some pressure on the egg supply without compromising consumer safety." 

If the FDA agrees, farmers her organization represents could once again sell their eggs to companies.  

"They're egg products that would be used in making mayonnaise, or ice cream, or cake mix,"  Peterson said.

In an interview with CBS News Texas, Peterson said that would free up eggs that customers could buy at the supermarket and ultimately lower prices. 

"I can't say it's going to be days, but it could very well be weeks," she said. "Again, to say this is going to be a silver bullet solution, it's not. I wish I had that solution, but it definitely could make some impact." 

The FDA implemented the rule in 2009 after a salmonella outbreak. Peterson said the rule is incompatible with how farmers raise chickens to produce meat. 

"Which essentially said, now we had to refrigerate our eggs, and if you know about trying to hatch eggs, you don't refrigerate those eggs," said Peterson. "You want to make them warm, and so we don't. Since we don't refrigerate our eggs, we were subsequently forced to throw them away." 

Peterson said a risk assessment released in 2020 shows there's minimal risk for their eggs, but the FDA has denied their organization's previous requests to change the rule. 

"I think they misinterpreted the data," Peterson said. 

If the FDA approves the Council's request, Peterson makes this assurance: "All of the eggs that we produce would go through the pasteurization step. So essentially, all of our eggs would be cooked before they go into the food supply." 

CBS News Texas reached out to the USDA and Egg Producers United about this issue, but we didn't hear back.

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