Who cares about being approved by the USDA? If you try to adhere to their rules and standards you have to start in your chicken coop....just like the commercial growers! The rules are quite stringent from what I understand. Does the OP have a commercial poultry business? This was not made clear. If liability issues are a problem in your area, is it really worth it to chance selling a few eggs for extra cash? Say you get embroiled in a lawsuit, do you think they will decide in your favor just because you washed your eggs? No, they will be looking into your whole operation, deciding if your facilities adhere to USDA regulations, wanting to see your records of vaccinations, records of your flock production, illnesses, postmortems, etc.
All over America there are folks like us selling unwashed eggs in recycled, or used, cartons to the general public. Its been done for years and, hopefully, will continue for many years to come. If NAIS goes through, we won't enjoy that freedom for long. I don't know if I have ever heard of someone dying, or getting deathly ill, from eggs sold from a backyard flock....I'm sure we would have heard about it,on CNN, if it had. The government would have used that as one more nail in the coffin that is NAIS.
I don't know about you but I wouldn't live in fear of a lawsuit for a few extra bucks. If I had to be fearful of the "what ifs" all the time...well, it just wouldn't be worth living at all! I sell my eggs in all their clean, but unsterilized, glory and folks who buy them appreciate the healthy way in which my chickens are raised. Most folks around here, thank God, understand that eggs come from a chicken's butt and take the usual precautions with their food!
All over America there are folks like us selling unwashed eggs in recycled, or used, cartons to the general public. Its been done for years and, hopefully, will continue for many years to come. If NAIS goes through, we won't enjoy that freedom for long. I don't know if I have ever heard of someone dying, or getting deathly ill, from eggs sold from a backyard flock....I'm sure we would have heard about it,on CNN, if it had. The government would have used that as one more nail in the coffin that is NAIS.
I don't know about you but I wouldn't live in fear of a lawsuit for a few extra bucks. If I had to be fearful of the "what ifs" all the time...well, it just wouldn't be worth living at all! I sell my eggs in all their clean, but unsterilized, glory and folks who buy them appreciate the healthy way in which my chickens are raised. Most folks around here, thank God, understand that eggs come from a chicken's butt and take the usual precautions with their food!
