Can I sell eggs in Alabama?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Alabama?

Not under Alabama's egg law, if you sell only eggs from your own hens and you don't sell eggs you received or bought from anyone else. The chapter does not apply to that producer. It starts to apply if you apply for and get a permit.

Everyone else who sells eggs is a dealer, and a dealer needs a permit from the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries. A retail dealer's permit is free and lasts until it is revoked. A wholesale egg dealer's permit is $5 a year, due by October 1, with a 15 percent penalty if it is still unpaid on November 1. A producer who chooses to come under the chapter also applies for an annual permit. The statute sets the $5 fee on the wholesale dealer's permit and doesn't state a separate fee for the producer who elects. Ask the department which application it wants.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-6, § 2-12-1 and § 2-12-4.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in Alabama?

Alabama's egg law sets no dozen limit and no hen limit for a producer who sells only their own hens' eggs. What brings the chapter back is selling eggs from another source, or choosing a permit, not how many you sell.

Federal egg-safety rules start at 3,000 laying hens, for a farm that does not sell all its eggs straight to consumers.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-6 and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Alabama?

Alabama's egg law doesn't mention farmers markets, and the producer exemption doesn't say where the sale happens. A producer who sells only their own hens' eggs, and none from anyone else, is outside the chapter at a market the same as at the farm. The law doesn't say a county or a market is bound by that. Ask the department, and the county health department, before your first market.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-6.

Can I sell eggs to a restaurant, a store or a neighbor who resells them in Alabama?

The producer exemption doesn't forbid it. The chapter doesn't apply to a producer who sells only their own hens' eggs and no eggs from anyone else, and it doesn't say the buyer has to be a household. A store or anyone else who then sells those eggs is a dealer. A dealer needs the permit, and a dealer's carton has to show the grade, the weight class, the packer's name and address, and the date the eggs were graded.

The sources don't say the producer must hold the permit in order to sell to that store. Ask the department before you sell to a store or a restaurant. Selling for resale is beyond what this directory is built for.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-6, § 2-12-1, § 2-12-2 and § 2-12-4.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in Alabama?

For a dealer, the carton shows the packer's name and address, the grade, the weight class, and the date the eggs were graded. The grade and size are in letters at least 3/16 of an inch, and the date at least 1/8 of an inch, as a day-of-the-year number, unless the Commissioner has approved another method. No grade or size is abbreviated. The statute also makes it unlawful for any person, dealer or not, to advertise eggs as "fresh", "country", "locally produced", "day-old" and the like unless they meet Grade A or AA. That line is in the chapter. The chapter does not apply to a producer who sells only their own hens' eggs and hasn't taken a permit, so the sources don't set a label for that producer's carton.

Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs, in a box, on the top, a side panel, or inside the lid. If it is inside the lid, "Keep Refrigerated" goes on the outside.

The sources don't say whether a carton may be reused. Ask the department before you pack into a used one.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-2, § 2-12-6, Ala. Admin. Code r. 80-3-14-.01 and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

Do eggs have to be refrigerated to sell in Alabama, and at what temperature?

Alabama's egg law, and the department's egg rules, don't tell a producer who is outside the chapter to hold eggs at a set temperature. The one temperature in the rules is 60°F, and it is only a presumption about who is responsible for a grade when a store is inspected a few days after delivery. It is not a storage rule for a farm.

Federal rules hold shell eggs at a retail establishment at 45°F or colder. A retail establishment is a place that provides food directly to consumers. The sources don't say whether a sale at your door is one. Ask the department what temperature it expects at the farm.

Source: Ala. Admin. Code r. 80-3-14-.03 and 21 CFR 115.50.

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in Alabama?

Alabama's egg law defines eggs as the eggs of a domesticated chicken hen, in the shell. Its producer exemption is "eggs of their own hens' production." Duck and quail eggs are outside that chapter. The sources don't say what, if anything, replaces it. Ask the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-1 and § 2-12-6.

Do I have to wash or candle eggs to sell them in Alabama?

Not under the chapter, while you stay outside it. A grade, for a dealer, is quality determined by candling, and a dealer's carton states a grade. The chapter does not apply to a producer who sells only their own hens' eggs and hasn't taken a permit, so it doesn't require that producer to candle or to state a grade.

The rules and the statute don't tell that producer to wash. They do say inedible eggs, including rots, blood rings, and eggs with chick embryos, are not sold for human food. Ask the department before you sell eggs unwashed.

Source: Ala. Code § 2-12-1, § 2-12-6 and Ala. Admin. Code r. 80-3-14-.02.