Selling Eggs???

[TerriLaChicks]

Call your local agriculture agent - I would think they would know. I only have a small flock & any extras go to family & friends.

 

[DebbieF]

In Wisconsin, I can sell eggs from my house but I can't sell at a Farmers Market or any other place.

 

[bigspringshatchery]

I've been selling eggs for about a year and never had any trouble and I advertise. I have posters hanging in my dads gas station. I know of you are going to sell eggs to a business or something like that you have to go thru the health dept. I tried but they told me it was a lo g process. I think as long as it's you selling to public it's ok.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
To answer your questions, I have never run into any government/state inspector when selling eggs. I have been selling eggs for years and I have never had a problem with the egg police. As you stated, you all were a food establishment, so you would have to comply with a different set of laws and regulations. I don't think that retailers (restuarants, bakeries, etc.) can "legally" purchase eggs from the backyard flock owner. That is where the trouble comes in. The eggs purchased have to comply with "standards". And these standards are listed in the document link that I have provided below. I think each state will have different laws. From everything that I have read about Louisiana, we can sell eggs to each other. We just can't sell eggs to places that are licensed to cook and sell food to the public being as though our "facilities" are not inspected, etc. This is possible contamination (salmonella), which could lead to sickness and death of customers. These establishments should not be purchasing eggs from "us". This is what I can tell you about Louisiana.

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry publishes a document entitled "Market Bulletin". This listing contains the sell of eggs, animals, producet, etc.

http://www.ldaf.louisiana.gov/portal/Portals/0/News/MarketBulletins/mb2011-02-10ads.pdf

This 386 page document below talks about the selling of eggs to "retail stores". It does not contain info about individuals sellings eggs to other "individual". So if neighbor A wants to sell eggs to neighbor B, then he could and is not required to have a "license" or comply with any "inspections", etc. so to speak.
http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/lac/07v01/07.doc

As far as the taste, I think that all of the eggs taste the same. I sell different colored eggs as well and my customers love the color combination.

I collect eggs daily at around 6pm. If the eggs are a little dirty, I will wipe them off. I store all of my eggs immediately in the fridge but I do know that they can sit out for a few days. I don't keep my eggs long because I am usually sold out within a few days of collecting eggs. If you wash the eggs, it will remove the protective cover (bloom) and the eggs won't last as long.

I hope that this information helps.

 

[La Mike]

What kuntrygirl said

As long as you are not selling the eggs as grade A there are no requirements to meet if you are ever asked then you sell grade B (Non Inspected)
I personally have never been asked about egg sales

If your planning on selling to establishments you have to be NPIP and several other permits.And are gonna have a whole lotta chickens

 

[eastercreek]

Quote:
To answer your questions, I have never run into any government/state inspector when selling eggs. I have been selling eggs for years and I have never had a problem with the egg police. As you stated, you all were a food establishment, so you would have to comply with a different set of laws and regulations. I don't think that retailers (restuarants, bakeries, etc.) can "legally" purchase eggs from the backyard flock owner. That is where the trouble comes in. The eggs purchased have to comply with "standards". And these standards are listed in the document link that I have provided below. I think each state will have different laws. From everything that I have read about Louisiana, we can sell eggs to each other. We just can't sell eggs to places that are licensed to cook and sell food to the public being as though our "facilities" are not inspected, etc. This is possible contamination (salmonella), which could lead to sickness and death of customers. These establishments should not be purchasing eggs from "us". This is what I can tell you about Louisiana.

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry publishes a document entitled "Market Bulletin". This listing contains the sell of eggs, animals, producet, etc.

http://www.ldaf.louisiana.gov/portal/Portals/0/News/MarketBulletins/mb2011-02-10ads.pdf

This 386 page document below talks about the selling of eggs to "retail stores". It does not contain info about individuals sellings eggs to other "individual". So if neighbor A wants to sell eggs to neighbor B, then he could and is not required to have a "license" or comply with any "inspections", etc. so to speak.
http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/lac/07v01/07.doc

As far as the taste, I think that all of the eggs taste the same. I sell different colored eggs as well and my customers love the color combination.

I collect eggs daily at around 6pm. If the eggs are a little dirty, I will wipe them off. I store all of my eggs immediately in the fridge but I do know that they can sit out for a few days. I don't keep my eggs long because I am usually sold out within a few days of collecting eggs. If you wash the eggs, it will remove the protective cover (bloom) and the eggs won't last as long.

I hope that this information helps.

Very useful information. Thank you. Our local ag agent has an office about 4 miles from here. I may go see what type of pamphlets/literature they have on poultry in general.

 

[BarefootMom]

I have looked into it- in Missouri to sell to retailers it is just a $15 fee and a business liscense. Not much- no inspections unless you are trying to market them as organic or have more than 10,000 birds (I think??)

I only sell about 10 dozen every 2 weeks, so I am not too worried about it but if I wanted to sell to the store I would need my lisense. I have been thinking about getting the licsense so I can get all my supplies tax free since chickens are not considered "farm" any more since people in the city limits can own them. bah. I was shocked when they started charging me tax for feed and supplies. whole nother issue though... lol

poultry laws are pretty lax here for the small farmer...they spend most of their time focusing on the large turkey and chicken operations. Tyson controls most of them.

If you are worried do some research on your states website and see what it would cost to get covered.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
That's not bad at all.

Thanks for sharing your state's info.

 

[jnmnotes]

I have looked into it- in Missouri to sell to retailers it is just a $15 fee and a business liscense. Not much- no inspections unless you are trying to market them as organic or have more than 10,000 birds (I think??)

I only sell about 10 dozen every 2 weeks, so I am not too worried about it but if I wanted to sell to the store I would need my lisense. I have been thinking about getting the licsense so I can get all my supplies tax free since chickens are not considered "farm" any more since people in the city limits can own them. bah. I was shocked when they started charging me tax for feed and supplies. whole nother issue though... lol

poultry laws are pretty lax here for the small farmer...they spend most of their time focusing on the large turkey and chicken operations. Tyson controls most of them.

If you are worried do some research on your states website and see what it would cost to get covered.

BarefootMom - Could you direct me to where you found information about the $15 fee and information about the business license? Thanks Much!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I did a bunch of research on this, and discovered that each individual state has its own set of regulations, but generally they aren't heinous.

I have a feeling the regulations of back-yard chicken egg sales are going to be tweaked a bit in the immediate future because this is such a hot trend.

One area I expect will get some attention soon is the issue of washing and refrigerating "farm fresh" eggs. There isn't a lot of useful science/information about this. What I read indicated the studies that proved unwashed eggs are "cleaner" were done ages ago and the samples were small.

I called around a lot to get the official recommendation for how to wash farm fresh eggs, and was repeatedly given the instructions for commercial processing which were hard to scale to home use. But I pressed a local inspector into talking about it with me, and she said to use water several degrees warmer than the warmest egg and that eggs absolutely should not be submerged during washing. I think this bears repeating as the "egg wash" solutions I have seen on the shelves at the feed store recommend soaking the eggs in a bath of their wash product & water for an extended time. Interesting, huh?