Can I sell eggs in New Brunswick?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in New Brunswick?

Not from Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, with 199 hens or fewer. The board's backyard page says "No quota or registration is required, provided the number of hens owned does not exceed 199." The Government of New Brunswick's livestock page says "No licence is required to keep 199 birds or fewer at any time."

We did not find the rule that sets that line. The Egg Plan and Levies Regulation gives the board the power "to require any and all persons before commencing or continuing in the marketing or the production and marketing of the regulated product to register with and obtain licences from the Board", and "to require that hens be possessed on a quota basis". The board's orders that use those powers, which would state the 199, the licence classes and their fees, are not published where we looked, so we quote the board and the Government and no regulation (#942). The Government's French page says "moins de 200 poules", fewer than 200 hens, and leaves out "at any time". The board's page also asks you to "check your local municipality bylaws" for the most birds allowed.

At 200 or more hens, the board's page says "To become a registered producer, you must be issued quota and a licence from Egg Farmers of New Brunswick." It lists two ways to get quota: purchase from a current registered producer, or the board's New Entrant Program, which "is not guaranteed to be available every year" and which the page says is currently on hold. The Government's page adds that all quota is held by the commercial producers.

Selling is a separate rule, in the answers below.

Source: Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs" (English and French) and The Egg Plan and Levies Regulation, N.B. Reg. 2003-54, ss. 4, 7 and 11.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in New Brunswick?

The limit is in hens, not in eggs or dozens: 199 hens or fewer needs no quota or registration. No source we read puts a limit on the eggs or dozens a small flock may sell.

We could not tell whether any levy, fee or report reaches a flock of 199 or fewer. The Egg Plan and Levies Regulation lets the board "fix levies or charges and to impose them on and collect them from persons engaged in the marketing or the production and marketing of the whole or any part of the regulated product", and to fix licence fees. The orders that set them are not published where we looked, and neither the board's page nor the Government's mentions one for a small flock (#942). Ask the board.

Source: Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs" and The Egg Plan and Levies Regulation, N.B. Reg. 2003-54, ss. 11 and 12.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in New Brunswick?

The board and the Department of Health both say yes, for your own ungraded eggs sold to the people who eat them. The board's backyard page says "A farmer may sell their own ungraded eggs directly to the consumer through farm gate sales at the farmer’s premise or at farmers markets." The Department of Health says selling eggs "direct to the consumer or at a farmer’s market" that are not from a CFIA-registered establishment is "exempt from licensing at this time", and its public market standard says the same of farmers selling shell eggs that are not from a registered establishment.

The same standard says "These eggs are not considered an approved source and cannot be used by licensed food premises." So eggs sold that way cannot go to a licensed vendor, who must use eggs from a CFIA-registered establishment. The Food Premises Regulation defines a public market as a venue where a group of vendors sets up on a regular basis to sell food, and includes a farmers' market; the regulation text we read does not name eggs, so the exemption is the Department's statement, made "at this time".

The sources word this differently, and we settle nothing. The Government's livestock page says that "if the eggs are sold anywhere but directly to the consumer, which includes farm market sales at the farm", they must be inspected at a registered grading station, a sentence that can be read either way. Its French page puts the farm and the farmers market on the allowed side: "ailleurs qu’à la ferme (ou à un marché de fermiers)". Ask the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, and the market's organizer, before you sell at a market (#943).

Source: Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, "Information for selling ungraded eggs", Government of New Brunswick, Department of Health, "Food premises regulations", New Brunswick Guidelines for Food Premises at Public Markets, March 2026, s. 5.4, The Food Premises Regulation, N.B. Reg. 2009-138, ss. 2 and 3 and Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs" (English and French).

Can I sell eggs to a restaurant, a store or someone who resells them in New Brunswick?

Not ungraded. The Eggs Regulation says "All eggs sold in the Province shall be graded" and packed in containers marked with a grade, and the one sale it exempts is by a producer who "sells, sends or conveys to a consumer, eggs produced on his own farm". A consumer there is "a person who buys eggs for use by himself or his household and not for resale", so a restaurant, a store or anyone reselling is not one. The Government's livestock page says the same in plain words: a sale anywhere but directly to the consumer must be inspected at a federally inspected and registered egg-grading station. The board points a farmer who wants to grade its own eggs to the CFIA office in Fredericton.

A licensed food premises must also buy from an approved source. The Food Premises Regulation asks it to obtain its food from a source subject to inspection by a government, and the market standard says eggs used by licensed vendors "must be from a Canadian Food Inspection Agency licensed food premises". The Eggs Regulation also provides a producer-grader licence from the Minister, which a producer needs to sell containers marked with a grade; we did not read whether one is still issued.

The sources differ on one edge, and we settle neither. The Eggs Regulation s. 5 says no person shall "sell or process in the Province", or send in or through it, "ungraded eggs, except for" a producer sending its eggs to a station for grading and a station sending them for processing, and it names no sale to a consumer, while s. 3(5) exempts such a sale from s. 3 only. The board and the Government both say a farm may sell ungraded eggs straight to the consumer (#943). The regulation's "egg station" is one registered under the Canada Agricultural Products Act, while the CFIA's page now cites the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

Source: The Eggs Regulation, N.B. Reg. 82-96, ss. 2, 3, 5 and 7, Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs", Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, "Can I grade my own eggs?", The Food Premises Regulation, N.B. Reg. 2009-138, s. 23, New Brunswick Guidelines for Food Premises at Public Markets, March 2026, s. 5.4 and the note on eggs and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in New Brunswick?

Not a carton with a grade on it. The Government's livestock page says "When selling eggs direct to the consumer egg cartons that have grade labels cannot be reused." Its French page says the same.

The Eggs Regulation sets grade marks on containers of graded eggs and names no label for a carton of ungraded ones. The board's page at its French address, whose text is in English, lists conditions for ungraded eggs that its English page does not: the eggs must "Be packed in clean cartons that are marked as “ungraded” in letters at least two centimetres high" and "Be labeled with the name of the farm/producer and the packaging date." We found no regulation that says so, and the two pages of the board differ, so ask the board before you print a label (#943).

The federal egg rules the CFIA lists cover eggs sent from one province or territory to another, not a sale within New Brunswick. Ungraded eggs may cross a provincial line only to an establishment that grades or processes them.

Source: Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs" (English and French), The Eggs Regulation, N.B. Reg. 82-96, s. 3, Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, the page at the board's French address and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs, section 4.0.

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

The board's page at its French address, whose text is in English, says ungraded eggs sold at the farm gate or a farmers market must be "Kept at 4 degrees Celsius until they leave the producer’s possession". The board's English page lists no temperature, and we found no regulation that sets one for a farm sale (#943). Ask your public health inspector.

For a licensed food vendor the Department of Health's market standard asks eggs to be stored at 4°C or colder. That standard is for licensed vendors and does not name the farmer's own exempt sale.

Source: Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, the page at the board's French address and New Brunswick Guidelines for Food Premises at Public Markets, March 2026, "Food Safety Tips".

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in New Brunswick?

The board's licence and the 199-hen line are about hens: the Plan defines an egg as "the egg of a hen" and the Eggs Regulation as the egg of a domestic hen. The Government's livestock page says "There are no regulations or quota requirements governing the production of other types of poultry, such as ducks, geese and quail", and it speaks of selling them for meat. None of the sources we read says whether a duck or quail egg falls in the farm-gate or market exemption for eggs. Ask your public health inspector before you sell them.

Source: The Egg Plan and Levies Regulation, N.B. Reg. 2003-54, s. 2, The Eggs Regulation, N.B. Reg. 82-96, s. 2 and Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Poultry".

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

The board's page at its French address, whose text is in English, says the eggs must "Be clean without any visible cracks or leaks". The Government's livestock page says "cracked eggs" "cannot be sold directly to the public from the farm gate". The sources we read say nothing of how to wash eggs, and nothing of candling for an ungraded sale: the Eggs Regulation uses candling in grading, which belongs to graded eggs. Ask your public health inspector.

Source: Egg Farmers of New Brunswick, Backyard Farming, the page at the board's French address, Government of New Brunswick, Livestock, "Eggs" and The Eggs Regulation, N.B. Reg. 82-96, s. 3.