State Law on Egg Sales

[Zenbirder]

Just thought I would let you all know that in New Mexico there is the "New Mexico Egg Grading Act", it has the laws on selling eggs in our state. I found out when I inquired at the local co-op about selling my eggs to them. They needed me to register with the state first as an egg producer, free for very small producers like me.

Some quirks in the law are:
You can not label the eggs as "fresh eggs", "hennery eggs", or "new-laid eggs" unless they are graded A or better.
You must label the carton with the name of the packer or distributor.
If you have less than 3,000 birds you can sell eggs without grading them, but you have to label them ungraded.
All eggs for sale in the state must be in cartons.

So I had to tell the state in writing of my intent to sell ungraded eggs, my location of production, number of hens, and general area of the state where I intend to sell eggs. I called an spoke with a man, he said free-range labeling would be OK. Re-using egg cartons is OK, but you must mark out the grading and paste your own label.

The lady at the co-op said it was part of homeland security, they just have to know who has these weapons of mass gluttony

Anyway, I would love to hear about any other state laws on egg sales, and to help inform our community here at BYC.

 

[schmoo]

I was curious and looked at my states government website and this was all I found. Its about farmers markets though and not co-ops. I would assume it is the same at both. I won't be doing either so I'm not concerned.

IN MICHIGAN

FAQ on farmers markets

Must an egg producer selling shell eggs at the farmers' market keep those eggs refrigerated? Is the producer permitted to re-use labeled egg cartons bearing another distributor's name and address on the carton?


Eggs sold by the producer must be held at refrigeration temperatures at the farmers' market. This is because eggs are capable of supporting the growth of Salmonella.

The labeling information on a carton identifies the type of egg, size of the egg, grade of the egg, and the name of the responsible party and address. Law does not permit re-using egg cartons or other packaging materials bearing the identity of another producer.

Farmers selling eggs of their own production are not required to hold a separate license at a farmers' market if they are already licensed at their packing location. Vendors selling eggs not of their own production are required to hold a food establishment license at a farmers' market.


Now that I think about it the people I used to buy eggs from had their name and address on the carton taped over the name brand of the carton

 

[erinm]

How abpout Mass? Anyone know MA. egg selling laws. i have not been able to find it. Thanks ErinM

 

[Rosalind]

Massachusetts agriculture regulations for poultry & eggs

My husband is a small business owner here in Massachusetts. It is not enough to comply with state laws; there will also be local laws determined by your town, and you will have to contact your town council people to find out what those are. They vary from area to area. You will probably have to wait for an official meeting with the Board of Health, and ask to be put on the meeting agenda to make a proposal. Much depends on how friendly you are with the local government people and exactly how snooty or presumptuous they happen to be, or how far that very' stick is stuck, if you know what I mean.

Be warned: Most of the people on the town council are not bad people per se. For the most part we've found they are retired or employed only part-time, and thought this would be a nice thing to do, as the positions are generally all-volunteer. Therefore, they are NOT experts in the field--you might find that the Board of Health is made up of English Literature teachers, charcoal-drawing artists and a car wash owner, all of whom have read scary things about chickens on The Internet and will tell you no just because they heard from their cousin's best friend's girlfriend that chickens smell and have rabies or some stupid thing, so until you find three veterinarians who will individually certify that your chickens don't have rabies, you won't be allowed to sell eggs.

Seriously, I have heard things that absurd come out of their mouths. There was a retired nurse on the Board of Health once, when we lived in Amherst. She quit out of frustration at the endless stupid. You could get lucky, some towns are better than others--the Framingham Board of Health is fairly reasonable. Smaller towns, not so much. Very hit-or-miss.

The UMass extension folks aren't much help for poultry. Mostly they are helpful with soil analysis and horses. They say they do fruit trees, but I saw their "exhibition" orchard and was not impressed. Chickens, they know nothing.