Can I sell eggs in Georgia?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Georgia?

The department's candling page says yes: anyone who wants to produce shell eggs and sell them at retail to the person who will eat them must get an egg candling certificate. Each person who candles eggs offered for sale needs one. You get it by attending the department's classes and passing its exam, which tests your knowledge and your practical ability to grade eggs. The statute says the same thing in other words: each candler and grader of eggs offered for sale shall obtain a license from the department, at no cost.

A second license sits beside that one, and the sources don't agree on who needs it. The statute makes it unlawful to do business as an egg handler without a license from the Commissioner, also at no fee. An egg handler includes a poultry producer who buys or sells eggs. A separate section says that nothing in it repeals "the exemption given the producer in the sale of commodities of his own production from taxation and licensing by existing laws," and it does not name that other law. The department's small-producer guideline, revised October 2, 2008, and still linked from the candling page, says a producer of "restricted eggs" is regulated but does not need a Food Sales Establishment license. Ask the department which of these applies to a sale from your own hens before you start.

Source: Georgia Department of Agriculture, egg candling, O.C.G.A. § 26-2-272, § 26-2-263, § 26-2-260, § 26-2-264 and GDA small egg producer guideline.

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

The statute sets no dozen limit and no hen limit. The department's guideline does, for what it calls restricted eggs: each such sale no more than 30 dozen, from a flock of 3,000 hens or less, and no more loss or leakers than the standard for U.S. Consumer Grade B. "Each such sale" is the guideline's words. It does not say 30 dozen a week. The candling page, read the same day, does not restate that line.

Federal egg-safety rules start at 3,000 laying hens, for a farm that does not sell all its eggs straight to consumers. Ask the department whether the 2008 guideline's 30-dozen and 3,000-hen lines still apply.

Source: GDA small egg producer guideline, GDA egg candling and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Georgia?

The statute and the candling page don't mention farmers markets. The candling page requires the certificate to sell at retail to the end consumer, and a market stall is a retail sale. The guideline's restricted-egg list is the farm where the eggs were produced, a door-to-door route, or a place of business the producer owns and manages. A market stall is none of those three, and the guideline doesn't say whether a stall still counts as restricted.

The department's cottage-food page says a market may require its own license even when the state does not, and it lists eggs as a food that cottage-food rules don't cover. Which license a stall needs is for the department, and the market, to say. Ask before your first market.

Source: GDA egg candling, GDA small egg producer guideline and GDA cottage food.

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

Not on the guideline's restricted path. It says a producer who sells to a retail store the producer doesn't own, to a restaurant or institution, or to anyone who will sell the eggs onward, needs a Food Sales Establishment license and must follow the guideline's facility rules. The statute's egg-handler license is the other requirement for a person in the business of selling eggs, at no fee. The sources don't say the candling certificate alone covers a wholesale sale.

That license is beyond what this directory is built for.

Source: GDA small egg producer guideline and O.C.G.A. § 26-2-263.

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

The statute says a carton shows the date packed or an expiration date no more than 45 days from packing, the grade and the size, and the packer's name and address or a plant number. Grade and size are in letters at least a quarter-inch high. The department's open-dating rule defines the pack date as the day the eggs were washed, candled, and packed, written as three letters and the day, such as JUN 10, with nothing before or after it. An expiration date is that same date after "Exp.", "Sell by", "Not to be Sold After", or "Best Before". Eggs are not sold after the expiration date.

The guideline adds the safe-handling statement. 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: O.C.G.A. § 26-2-268, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 40-3-1-.01, GDA small egg producer guideline and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

Yes, at 45°F, on the readings that speak to it. The statute says every shell-egg producer refrigerates eggs upon gathering, and that after washing, processing, and packaging they are transported, stored, and displayed at an ambient temperature not over 45°F until sold at retail. The guideline says the same 45°F for transport, storage, and display, and it asks for a refrigerator that holds 45°F before a Food Sales Establishment license. It doesn't say that refrigerator rule is waived for a restricted sale.

Source: O.C.G.A. § 26-2-273 and GDA small egg producer guideline.

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

The egg statute's "egg" is the shell egg of a domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea. Duck eggs are in that definition. Quail eggs are not. The department's quail guideline says a quail-egg producer needs an egg candling certificate, at no cost, and a Food Sales Establishment license for the processing facility, with an annual fee due July 1. It doesn't state the fee. Quail eggs are labeled nest run, in a clear carton, with the producer's name and address and an expiration date no more than 45 days out, and held at no more than 45°F.

For a bird the statute and the quail guideline both skip, ask the department.

Source: O.C.G.A. § 26-2-260 and GDA quail egg producer guideline.

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

Candle, yes, if you sell them. The statute says each candler and grader of eggs offered for sale needs the department's license, and that grade and size are determined by candling. The guideline says a person needs the egg grader's certificate to sell both restricted and non-restricted eggs.

Wash: the statute doesn't say every egg must be washed. It does say that after washing, processing, and packaging the eggs stay at 45°F, and the open-dating rule defines the pack date as the day the eggs were washed, candled, and packed. The sources don't say an unwashed egg may be sold. Ask the department before you sell eggs unwashed.

Source: O.C.G.A. § 26-2-261, § 26-2-272, § 26-2-273, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 40-3-1-.01 and GDA small egg producer guideline.