Can you be sued if someone gets sick from eating your eggs?

[alleycat8729]

Hello, first post on BYC. (Hopefully) In the next few weeks, I'll have a surplus of eggs and I was hoping to sell some. I'm by no means looking to make any real amount of money, but it would be great if I could just make enough to offset the cost of the feed. On one of the Facebook groups I'm a part of, someone said they're having a hard time finding homeowner's insurance to cover them selling eggs on the premises. I hadn't even considered this! Do I need to call my homeowner's insurance and make sure I'm covered if someone gets sick from one of my eggs? How often do people fall ill because of consuming fresh eggs from backyard flocks? Thank you so much!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

how would their insurance co know? They must have over 100 chickens and are running a licensed business.

 

[User395221]

You'd probably need a separate public liability policy. Your household insurance would cover injury and damage for things that happen at your place, but not for liability to purchasers of a product. You could ring your insurer and ask whether it could be covered, or whether they could offer you another policy at a reasonable rate.

(people can sue you for all sorts of things, it doesn't mean they'd win at trial, but it can cost a lot defending proceedings, so taking out additional insurance "just in case" might be worth it - it really depends on the cost of premiums as to whether it's worth it)

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Hello and welcome to BYC!!


To sell eggs for human consumption the dept of agriculture says if they are not inspected by them, you must state it on the carton.
we print paper labels that say..

Not USDA inspected / Not Graded.
We eat what we sell, but consume at your own risk.
Thank you for supporting our small family farm!
Please return this carton to help keep our cost low.
lazy H Farm
By doing this you can not be sued​

 

[cppeace]

Check your local laws first for laws on selling eggs- most states are good with it though. If concerned make sure you put the date and that they are not USDA inspected/ are homestead or farm raised. Farmer Connie's statement is good.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

People don't get sick from fresh eggs. You'll find your rates soar or getting dropped if talking to your policy provider about owning chickens. Search for threads here about that. Scary common.

I don't know where you live but the above poster is in Florida. That state requires washing eggs and refrigeration. My state does not. Nor does my state require me to add anything to my label other than a physical address. Even selling homemade jam at a church fundraiser requires a physical address of preparation. This is the basic local food requirement for all states, more and more states are adding meaningless requirements. For example if I reuse egg cartons the grade and size are blacked out with marker and a small label with my address is added. In what world would someone assume those eggs were inspected by the state agricultural department? Don't get me started on washing the protective bloom off fresh eggs, of course you need to refrigerate after doing that.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I don't know where you live but the above poster is in Florida. That state requires washing eggs and refrigeration. My state does not. Nor does my state require me to add anything to my label other than a physical address.

1 year ago a neighbor called the USDA on us. we had a friendly visit from an inspector. She told me we can only sell with labels and have less than 100 chickens.
she was really nice about it and even told us who called. It was the neighbor around the corner who we stopped selling to because he was always talking about racist comments about our next door neighbor who is black. When we told him he was our friend, he stopped buying eggs from us. then a week later the USDA was at our gate.
Moral of the story is.. sell your eggs, say thank you and see you next time! Florida is a melting pot of all types of people. Selling anything brings all types to your door.

 

[alleycat8729]

Thank you so much everyone! Sorry I'm just responding, I've been trying to figure out this website!

 

[mominoz]

Post a liability sign or have them check off a waver sheet...saying how to handle eggs, never use without thoroughly cooking.etc. ... at least give a verbal warning...'never eat raw eggs, even store ones can make you sick.' Many people today, are not taught how to handle food properly.... they would have to prove it was your egg at fault, not that they didn't handle them properly, or wash their hands or not cook well. Uncooked store chicken is full of germs and bacteria (Joel Salatin had his birds tested and they had way less 'germs' than chicken purchased at several grocery stores)....

 

[CarpCharacin]

I know this is an old thread, but I have been thinking about this recently since I sell eggs. The label on the carton should also say not feed the eggs to children, since minors can't waive liability, at least in here in Utah.