Can I sell eggs in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Newfoundland and Labrador?

The regulations draw the line at 100 layers. The Egg Regulations say "unregulated producer" means "a person who owns less than 100 layers", and that an unregulated producer "shall not be affected by the Egg Scheme, 2000 or these regulations except as expressly set out". The Egg Scheme, 2000 says "producer" means "a person who owns 100 or more layers", and "A producer shall not produce or market eggs in intraprovincial trade unless a quota has been assigned to him or her by the EFNL." The Scheme defines a "registered producer" as one "who holds a valid quota certificate issued by the EFNL".

The Scheme also says, wider, "A person shall not engage in the production of eggs in the province unless he or she holds a valid quota certificate issued by the EFNL", and lets the board "exempt a person or classes of persons engaged in the production or marketing of eggs from this Scheme". The board's orders were not found, and a "layer" is a hen "of a minimum age as determined by the EFNL", an age we did not find. The two readings differ and we settle neither (#951). The 2011 Public Market Guidelines say producers "with more than 100 hens must be recognized by the “Egg Producers of Newfoundland and Labrador”" and speak of "less then 100 hens"; the regulations put a person with exactly 100 layers on the producer side. The board's own site has no page for a small flock. Ask Egg Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador before you rely on the line.

A food premises licence is a separate question, in the answers below.

Source: The Egg Regulations, ss. 2 and 3, The Egg Scheme, 2000, ss. 2, 8, 11 and 12, Public Market Guidelines, September 2011, section 7 "Eggs" and Egg Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador, Who We Are.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in Newfoundland and Labrador?

The limit in the regulations is in layers, not in eggs or dozens: fewer than 100 for an unregulated producer. No source we read puts a limit on the eggs or dozens a small flock may sell.

We could not tell whether a levy, a report or a price rule reaches a small flock. The Egg Regulations say the board "may, in its discretion, require that non-quota holders and unregulated producers pay levies up to the amounts prescribed under section 6", count the eggs of an unregulated producer in "the provincial allotment to the province as its share of the national egg market", and say "A person shall not market eggs in the province at a price less than the aggregate of" the price charged for eggs of an equivalent kind and reasonable transportation charges. The same regulations say an unregulated producer is not affected by them "except as expressly set out". Whether the board charges or requires anything of a small flock, we did not find (#951). Ask the board.

Source: The Egg Regulations, ss. 3, 7, 25 and 26.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Newfoundland and Labrador?

A producer may sell its own eggs to a consumer ungraded. The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations say eggs "shall be inspected and graded at egg grading stations or other facilities designated by the minister", and then "Sections 3 and 4 do not apply to eggs or cracked eggs that are sold by producers to consumers." A "producer" is a person who sells eggs "produced on a farm which he or she operates", and a "consumer" is a person who buys eggs "for his or her own use". The regulation names no place, farm or market.

A licence is a separate question. The Food Premises Act says "A person shall not operate a food premises without a licence", and a food premises is a place where food is "offered for sale, sold or served", tents and booths included. The Food Premises Regulations leave out "farms selling only their own farm products in the form of honey, unprocessed fruits, vegetables and grains"; eggs are not named, so we cannot say whether a farm egg sale is a food premises (#952). The 2011 Public Market Guidelines, which the Department of Digital Government and Service NL still links, list "Eggs" among their Schedule A foods and say vendors of Schedule A foods "will require a seasonal food license as stated in the Food Regulations § 5 (1)"; the consolidated Food Premises Regulations show that s. 5(1) repealed in 2013, when the Act took the licence. The market's organizer needs a Public Market Certificate of Approval. The guidelines are fifteen years old, so ask an Environmental Health Officer what applies to you.

Source: The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations, ss. 2, 3 and 5, The Food Premises Act, ss. 2 and 6, The Food Premises Regulations, ss. 3 and 5, Public Market Guidelines, September 2011 and Government Services: Environmental Health, Public Markets.

Can I sell eggs to a restaurant, a store or someone who resells them in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Not ungraded. The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations let a producer sell ungraded only "to consumers", people who buy eggs "for his or her own use", so a restaurant, a store or anyone reselling is not one. A "retail seller", a person who sells eggs at a place of business built or run mainly to sell goods to consumers, is not a "producer" in them either. Such eggs "shall be inspected and graded at egg grading stations or other facilities designated by the minister".

The Egg Scheme, 2000 also names the buyers: a "HRI tradesperson" is "a person engaged in buying eggs for the purposes of resale to the public through a food services premises", and one "shall not buy eggs that have been produced in contravention of this Order". A "grader" and a "wholesaler" are named too. The Food Premises Act adds that "Food which is used in a food premises shall be obtained from an approved source", an establishment "subject to inspection by the Government of Canada, a provincial or territorial government or an agency of those governments", and excepts only fresh fruit and vegetables from a farmer and fish from a fish harvester; it does not name eggs. The 2011 Public Market Guidelines say eggs "can only be sold by the egg producer (owner of the Hens) directly to the egg consumer (the person eating the eggs) otherwise they must be federally Inspected and graded".

The CFIA's egg rules are for eggs "sent or conveyed from one province or territory to another", imported or exported, not for a sale inside Newfoundland and Labrador.

Source: The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations, ss. 2, 3 and 5, The Egg Scheme, 2000, ss. 2 and 12, The Food Premises Act, ss. 2 and 4, Public Market Guidelines, September 2011, section 7 "Eggs" and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs, sections 2.0 and 4.0.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in Newfoundland and Labrador?

The sources differ and we settle none (#952). The Egg Regulations say "Eggs shall be sold in containers which bear the identification imprint of the Egg Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador" and "Containers required under subsection (1) shall not be reused", but also that an unregulated producer is not affected by them "except as expressly set out", and section 28 names no one. The 2011 Public Market Guidelines say "Unregulated Producer" must appear on eggs from "producers with less then 100 hens", that "Containers cannot be marked “Graded” unless the eggs are federally inspected and graded at a registered grading station", and that trays and cartons "must be clean and of a suitable material and condition for food storage". No regulation we read states the label. Ask the board about the imprint.

The federal rules the CFIA lists cover eggs sent from one province or territory to another. Ungraded eggs may cross a provincial line only if they are packaged in a container labelled "Ungraded Eggs" and sent to an establishment that grades or processes them.

Source: The Egg Regulations, ss. 3 and 28, Public Market Guidelines, September 2011, section 7 "Eggs" and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs, section 4.0.

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

For a market, the 2011 Public Market Guidelines say "Eggs must be stored as a potentially hazardous food at 4°C, protected from contamination and properly labeled", and that "All egg producers must, as a condition of their license, inspect and candle their eggs for defects before sale." The Food Premises Regulations say "All eggs intended for human consumption shall be stored in accordance with the temperature and humidity conditions which are prescribed by the Egg Regulations (Canada)", and name no figure. No regulation we read sets a temperature for a producer's eggs sold at the farm. Ask an Environmental Health Officer.

Source: Public Market Guidelines, September 2011, section 7 "Eggs" and The Food Premises Regulations, s. 45.

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in Newfoundland and Labrador?

The 100-layer line and the board's quota are about hens: the Egg Regulations define an egg as "the egg of a layer", a layer is a hen, and the Scheme defines a hen as "the female of a class of domestic chickens belonging to the species Gallus Domesticus". The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations speak of the "egg of a domestic hen". None of the sources we read says whether a duck or quail egg falls under the grading exemption or needs a food premises licence. Ask an Environmental Health Officer before you sell them.

Source: The Egg Regulations, s. 2, The Egg Scheme, 2000, s. 2 and The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations, s. 2.