Mexico City, Mexico - There is a new crisis in Mexico. It's not the ongoing drug war or the plummeting value of the peso; it's the Great Mexican Egg Crisis, and it won't be over easy.

Though there will be lots of puns, it really is no joke. Mexico is suffering an extreme egg shortage due to an outbreak of avian flu this summer in the heart of the nation's egg-producing region. The epidemic has caused a drastic dip in production and led to huge price increases. While the crisis has hit the poor in the country hardest, all Mexicans are scrambling for eggs, which are a crucial part of their diet.

According to the country's poultry industry, Mexicans eat more eggs, per capita, than anyone else on the planet. On average, they eat more than 430 eggs a year, which is almost double US annual consumption.

There has been hoarding, price spikes, and two-hour lines to buy eggs. Some retail outlets have been forced to limit how many cartons a day a customer can buy.

Prices jumped when, after an outbreak of avian flu was discovered in the Mexican state of Jalisco, Mexican farmers and the government acted with lethal authority and slaughtered close to 20 million hens to prevent the spread of the virus.

Within weeks of the outbreak, 90 million hens were vaccinated against the virus, while a second round of inoculation is still under way.

Prices were about $1.50 for 18 eggs before the outbreak, now they've risen to more than double that amount. This might not sound like much (unless you're a family of five eating 2,000 eggs a year) but it's a steep price increase for millions of Mexicans who live in extreme poverty.

The egg price spikes and shortages got so rough that President Felipe Calderon went on television, promising to reduce tariffs on imported eggs and crack down on speculators.

"We will not allow Mexican families, especially those who have less, to see their pocketbooks affected by unjustified increases in the price of this basic commodity," the president declared.

Calderon also announced $230 million in emergency financing to restore production and replace about 11 million of the chickens slaughtered. The president added that 3 million hens were already headed out to the farms.

In the meantime, American hens are being called to the rescue.

To stabilize the market, Mexico's Economic Secretary Bruno Ferrari suspended tariffs on egg imports with thousands of additional tons of US eggs headed south. The first shipments from the US have already arrived at Mexico City's huge wholesale warehouse and are helping to stabilize prices.

But egg vendor Adrian Hernandez says his clients don't like the US imports; they tell him the American eggs don't have any flavor, and that the yolks are pale.

Another vendor, Erasmo Hernandez, says he has lost nearly 40 percent of his business since the crisis began. Most people are buying less, and he says there's not much he can do about it.

Mexicans also like to make a lot of jokes when facing hard times. And there have been a lot of huevos jokes, most circulating on social media. One shows a picture of a carton of eggs on display at one of Mexico's finer department stores with a sign that reads "Huevos for sale: 6-month payment plans with no interest." Another shows eggs on display at a jewelry store among the diamonds and pearl necklaces.

There are of course much racier jokes making the rounds, given that Mexicans love double entendres, and the fact that huevo is a euphemism for a male body part. But, sadly, we can't repeat any of these.