Illegal to Advertise Nest Run Eggs as "Fresh" or "Local"?

[BigBlueHen53]

Do her chickens eat any bugs? If so they aren't organic? I tried organic feed once. The birds wouldn't eat it so that was a waste of money.
Your a good mom to buy the eggs. Mine would go without.

Pshaw, at those prices I would tell her, you buy em and I'll cook em.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

...mine would get a math lesson in how much of the world population would need to die before the rest of humanity could eat locally grown organic. *Hint* Its not good for densely populated urban centers *Hint*

I am not a good person. Or not good at being a decent person. or something.

I think you are a realistic person.

 

[MTKitty]

Maybe you cannot say “local,” but can you say something like “Product of a Phoenix flock” (or wherever your flock is housed).

Maybe “fresh” isn’t allowed, but what if your label says the eggs were gathered during the week of, for example, October 10, 2021? That assumes you can easily track what week the eggs were gathered.

If I were buying eggs from a small producer, I’d want to know approximately how old they were because I prefer my boiled eggs to peel easily. Too fresh eggs don’t.

It may take some creative thinking to advertise within legal bounds.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I pencil the date laid on the big end of my eggs. No doubt about the freshness then! And I tell my customers I do it so they can hold them back a couple weeks for hard-boiling purposes, exactly as MTKitty pointed out. If I were to make a label, it might say something like "Healthy Eggs from Happy Hens." Still working on it, though.

 

[ColtHandorf]

"egg transportation devices"

 

[Chicken Heel]

I got tired of the haggling over the price of my eggs and made the decision to just give them away to a local church's food bank which provides food for over 200 families of need every month. Had a few former customers come back to me upset about it because they wanted the "free" eggs too.

 

[LaFleche]

Had a few former customers come back to me upset about it because they wanted the "free" eggs too.

How impudent. Whatever you decide to do with your eggs is none of their business.

 

[Lethal Chaos]

Ugh I've run into this thread solely because of this and it's ridiculous...I also found out on top of applying as a nest run producer I have to get a food handlers license. (fair) And indeed not use any cartons with other brand markings. The inability to use fresh and local is ridiculous. Plus the refrigeration requirements of 45F (& below) totally bar me from having a roadside stand via honor system even in colder months. And man I'm dreading even trying to get NPIP certified then to just sell hatching eggs. I'm sad because all my silly carton labels have the banned words on them too lmao.

 

[CabritaChicks]

"Certified Organic" is another of those terms that have been co-opted by the industrial egg industry. It is expensive for a small person to get, it has rules like these you mention, inspections, paperwork, more trouble than it is worth. The marketing is effective, though. Our daughter, who has chickens, is coming for a visit next week. She wants us to buy her some "Organic" eggs -- she knows I do not pay for the organic feed for my flock, and she wants store eggs with the "certified organic" sticker. They have even convinced my kids that my eggs are not safe or good, without such a sticker!
There is a loophole in the organic certification, if they can't get certain feed ingredients, they can get permission to substitute not organic ingredients. So, I do not want to pay such ridiculous prices for "Organic" chicken feed, when any time they can just substitute ingredients. But, I am not going to explain these legalities to our daughter, I am just going to get those magic store eggs for her.

I know so many small hobby farms that have gone bankrupt just trying to keep up with those “certified organic” labels. Everyone wants organic, but a lot of us focus on what’s actually good for the birds — and what keeps food on the table. Then, of course, people complain about the prices.

When I lived in Minnesota, there was this little shed on the honor system. The woman who ran it made candles, soap, honey, grew all kinds of small run produce, and raised chickens. She ran a full-circle setup — composting, growing, and reusing everything — kind of like I do. She even had these little baskets for a dollar: bring it back next time, and you’d get a dollar off whatever you filled it with. I have no idea how regulated it was, but she lived right in Minneapolis — not out in the sticks — and it worked beautifully.

I remember she said 'I would rather ask forgiveness than permission'

Edit: hubby just reminded me. She got blank cartons, and then got a stamp for the little farm. Fun fact: here (before my chickens) I bough tthese really wonderful eggs they ocassionally had at the market, all had a notation of 'sell by date' and ' see the farm' .... all of which was blank and Im pretty sure its a big company. So they got away with just saying 'free range'.

 

[CabritaChicks]

Also now, giving away or seilling eggs. I just say they are 'Butt Nuggets'. No minced words.