Can I sell eggs in the District of Columbia?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in District of Columbia?

The sources read for this page do not say. A cottage food business registers with DC Health before it starts, and once it has a certificate it may sell the temperature-control foods on the department's approved list in 25-K DCMR 103.5. It may not sell a food the department does not allow. The section text of that list was not on the pages read. The department's cottage-food checklist from 2018, still on its site, says a cottage food business is not allowed to sell foods that require refrigeration in their finished state. The department's inspection page says shell eggs should be stored at 45°F. The checklist and the code, as amended through 2025, are not the same sentence.

The cottage-food section does not apply to a food establishment that department regulations require to have a license. Nothing read here says a sale of your own eggs from home is that establishment, or that it is not. Ask DC Health whether a sale of your own eggs from home needs a food-establishment license.

Source: D.C. Code §7-742.02, DC Health, cottage food businesses, DC Health cottage-food checklist and DC Health, food-establishment inspections.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in District of Columbia?

No dozen limit and no hen limit appears in the District sources read for this page. Federal egg-safety rules start at 3,000 laying hens, for a farm that does not sell all its eggs straight to consumers. Whether a home flock in the District is inside those rules is a question the District sources don't take up. Ask DC Health.

Source: DC Health, cottage food businesses and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in District of Columbia?

The farmers-market law defines farm products to include shell eggs, and it puts a farmers-market support program in DC Health for permitting and licensure questions. It does not say a farmer may sell shell eggs at a market without a license. The cottage-food pages describe sales at markets of the foods the registration allows. They don't name shell eggs.

Ask DC Health whether a market stall of your own eggs needs a food-establishment license, and ask the market what it asks on top of that.

Source: D.C. Code §7-742.21 and DC Health, cottage food businesses.

Can I sell eggs to a restaurant, a store or someone who resells them in the District of Columbia?

The cottage-food page says a 2025 amendment lets a cottage food business sell wholesale to a licensed food establishment, consistent with District law, of the foods it is allowed to sell. The pages don't say shell eggs are one of those foods. The District's food code says shell eggs a food establishment receives are clean and sound and within the restricted egg tolerances for U.S. Consumer Grade B under the federal grading and egg-inspection rules (7 CFR Part 56 and 9 CFR Part 590). That section governs what the restaurant or store accepts. It does not say whether the farm selling to it needs a license, or whether shell eggs are on the cottage-food list. Ask DC Health before you sell to a restaurant or a store. Selling for resale is beyond what this directory is built for.

Source: DC Health, cottage food businesses, D.C. Code §7-742.02 and 25-A DCMR §709.1.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in District of Columbia?

For a cottage food product, the code requires a label with the business identification number, the product name, the ingredients by weight, the net weight or volume, the federal allergen statement, nutrition information if a claim is made, and this sentence in 10-point type or larger: "Made by a cottage food business that is not subject to the District of Columbia's food safety regulations." That label is for a cottage food product. The pages don't say a carton of shell eggs is one.

No District source read for this page says whether an egg carton may be reused. Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs. Ask DC Health what it wants on a carton of eggs from your own hens.

Source: D.C. Code §7-742.02 and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

Do eggs have to be refrigerated to sell in the District of Columbia, and at what temperature?

DC Health's inspection page for food establishments says shell eggs should be stored at 45°F. That page is about inspections of food establishments. It does not say the same number binds a sale from a home that is not a food establishment. The cottage-food checklist treats a food that must be refrigerated as outside cottage food. Ask DC Health which temperature applies to a sale of your own eggs, and whether that sale is a food establishment at all.

Source: DC Health, food-establishment inspections and DC Health cottage-food checklist.

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in the District of Columbia?

The farmers-market definition says shell eggs, and it does not name a species. The cottage-food list was not in the pages read. Nothing read for this page says whether duck or quail eggs follow the chicken egg. Ask DC Health.

Source: D.C. Code §7-742.21.

Do I have to wash or candle eggs to sell them in the District of Columbia?

No District statute or DC Health page read for this page tells a person selling their own eggs to wash them or to candle them. Ask DC Health.

Source: DC Health, food safety regulations.