Can I sell eggs in Prince Edward Island?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Prince Edward Island?

Not for a flock of 299 or fewer hens, says the Department of Agriculture's 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers: "No license is required to keep up to 299 hens." For conventional layers the same guide lists "quota and a license issued by Egg Producers of Prince Edward Island", the name the board had then; it is Egg Farmers of PEI now. The guide says it is "current as of March 2017".

The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations put the line at 300, and not clearly. A producer with "a flock of three hundred or more laying hens is eligible for registration", and one whose flock "shall become three hundred or more in number shall apply for registration as a registered producer and must apply for a quota which may or may not be allocated by the commodity board depending on market demand for eggs at that time". Then "No producer shall maintain a flock in excess of three hundred laying hens without having first received a quota from the commodity board." So a flock of exactly 300 is unclear, and we settle nothing (#947).

Below 300 the regulations say: "Producers with flocks of laying hens of a number less than three hundred may be exempt from quota restrictions, license fees or levies but shall be subject to other regulations of the commodity board." That is a power, not a stated exemption, and the board's orders that would use it were not found where we looked. The board's own site has no page for a small flock. Ask Egg Farmers of PEI before you rely on either figure.

Selling is a separate rule, in the answers below.

Source: Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers, "Poultry Farming", The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations, ss. 30, 41 and 42 and Egg Farmers of PEI, About Us.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in Prince Edward Island?

The limit in the sources is in hens, not in eggs or dozens: the Department of Agriculture's 2017 guide says up to 299 hens need no licence. No source we read puts a limit on the eggs or dozens a small flock may sell.

We could not tell whether any fee, levy or report reaches a small flock. The regulations give the board the power "to fix and collect yearly, half yearly, quarterly, or monthly license fees" and "to require periodic returns to be made", and say a flock of fewer than 300 "may be exempt" from "license fees or levies" and "shall be subject to other regulations of the commodity board". The board's orders that would say which were not found where we looked (#947). The federal Prince Edward Island Egg Order separately lets the board fix levies on persons engaged in producing or marketing eggs for interprovincial and export trade. Ask the board.

Source: Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers, "Poultry Farming", The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations, ss. 39 and 42 and Prince Edward Island Egg Order, C.R.C., c. 226, ss. 3 and 4.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Prince Edward Island?

The one source we found says a market sale needs graded eggs. The Department of Agriculture's 2017 guide says you can "sell eggs directly to consumers; however, if the eggs are sold anywhere but at the farm (including farmers’ markets), they must be inspected at a federally inspected and registered egg-grading station." So its ungraded sale is at the farm. The guide is nine years old, and no regulation we read states the rule (#948). Ask the Department before you take eggs to a market.

The Food Premises Regulations do not name eggs. They leave out of licensing "food preparation areas in a private residence where low-risk food is prepared and packaged for sale at farmers markets and special events", and list "Public Market Vendor" among the premises that are licensed. They do not say whether a farmer selling shell eggs at a market is either, so ask an environmental health officer, and the market's organizer, as well.

Source: Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers, "Poultry Farming" and The Food Premises Regulations, s. 2 and Appendix 3.

Can I sell eggs to a restaurant, a store or someone who resells them in Prince Edward Island?

Not ungraded, as the Department of Agriculture's 2017 guide has it: eggs "sold anywhere but at the farm" "must be inspected at a federally inspected and registered egg-grading station", and a restaurant, a store or anyone reselling is not a consumer buying at the farm. A licensed food premises must also use food that "has been inspected", which the Food Premises Regulations ask of a licence holder; they do not say what inspects an egg.

The board holds the power "to regulate the time and place at which and to designate the agency or sub-agency, or the agencies or sub-agencies through which eggs are to be marketed", and a small flock stays "subject to other regulations of the commodity board", so ask the board what applies to a sale to a business (#947).

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 Prince Edward Island. Ungraded eggs may cross a provincial line only to an establishment that grades or processes them.

Source: Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers, "Poultry Farming", The Food Premises Regulations, s. 25, The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations, ss. 39 and 42 and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs, sections 2.0 and 4.0.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in Prince Edward Island?

No source we read says what to print on a carton of eggs sold at the farm, or whether a carton may be reused. The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations give the board the power to determine "the quantity and quality, grade or class of eggs that are to be marketed", and the board's orders on that were not found. Ask the Department of Agriculture and the board.

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 Commodity Marketing Regulations, s. 39 and CFIA: regulatory requirements for eggs, section 4.0.

Do eggs have to be refrigerated to sell in Prince Edward Island, and at what temperature?

No source we read sets a temperature for eggs sold at the farm or at a market. For a licensed food premises the Food Premises Regulations say "All potentially hazardous foods, including foods that have been processed and cooled to be served cold, shall be stored at a temperature of 4°C (40°F) or less." They do not say whether a shell egg is one, and they do not say they reach a farmer's sale. Ask an environmental health officer.

Source: The Food Premises Regulations, Appendix 2, s. 4.

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in Prince Edward Island?

The 299-hen line and the board's registration and quota are about hens: the regulations define an egg as "the egg of a domestic hen" and a hen as "the hen of any class of domestic chicken belonging to the species Gallus Domesticus". The Department's 2017 guide says "There are no regulations governing the production of other types of poultry, such as turkeys, ducks and geese", and speaks of killing and dressing them. None of the sources we read says whether a duck or quail egg falls in the guide's farm-gate rule. Ask the Department of Agriculture before you sell them.

Source: The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations, s. 1 and Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2017 Guide for Beginning Farmers, "Poultry Farming".