Can I sell eggs in Maryland?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Maryland?

You register. The rule says a person may not distribute, offer for sale, or sell shell eggs to a consumer unless that person is registered with the Secretary. A packer who keeps 3,000 or fewer chickens and sells, offers, or exposes for sale shell eggs only from those chickens shall register, and is exempt from the registration and inspection fees. The statute says the same of a packer or distributor who keeps 3,000 or fewer poultry and sells eggs only from those poultry. Any other packer pays $30 a year. The certificate lasts a year.

The department's own pages draw the line one bird lower. Its application page says no fee for egg producers or packers with fewer than 3,000 chickens, and its application form says less than 3,000 is free and more than 3,000 pays $30. The statute and the rule say 3,000 or fewer. If you keep exactly 3,000, ask the department which it applies.

Registration also asks for documentation that the birds meet the Salmonella standards in COMAR 15.11.11.05A. That rule calls any flock whose eggs are sold for human consumption a commercial flock, and has it tested unless it is in the NPIP "U.S. Sanitation Monitored" program or an approved state plan, or was derived immediately from a breeding flock tested negative. One test is environmental samples from the egg belts or through an open floor, with no bird count, and a positive sample is followed by a random 500 birds per house. The other is a blood test of a random 300 birds per house. Neither sentence says what a house with fewer birds does. Ask the Department of Agriculture.

The department's guidelines for small producers selling eggs, revised January 19, 2013 and linked from its egg inspection page, say a producer registered with the department is not required to get a license from a state or local health department to sell their own eggs at a farmers' market, to a restaurant, or to another retailer.

Source: COMAR 15.04.01.04, COMAR 15.04.01.09, Md. Code, Agric. §4-311.2, COMAR 15.11.11.02, COMAR 15.11.11.05, MDA egg packer application page, MDA producer/packer application form and MDA small-producer guidelines.

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

The fee line is birds, not dozens. At 3,000 or fewer chickens (poultry, in the statute), selling only the eggs of that flock, the registration and inspection fees are waived. The rules set no dozen cap on that registration. Above that, or if the eggs are not only from that flock, the packer pays $30 a year and an inspection fee of 8 cents per 30-dozen case, reported each quarter for eggs sold to a retailer, a food service facility or a consumer. The department's invoice sheet puts that fee on invoices to a retailer or a food service facility.

Federal egg-safety rules start at 3,000 laying hens, for a farm that does not sell all its eggs straight to consumers.

Source: COMAR 15.04.01.09, COMAR 15.04.01.10, Md. Code, Agric. §4-311.2, MDA shell-egg invoice requirements and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Maryland?

The department's guidelines say a registered producer is not required to get a health-department license, or the mobile farmers' market license, to sell their own eggs at a farmers' market, and needs no invoice there. The egg rules still apply: registration, and a carton or, for loose eggs, a placard with the grade, size, packer and lot. The guidelines also say layer premises are subject to random Salmonella testing.

The guidelines say eggs are held at 45°F or below ambient temperature, with freezer packs or mechanical refrigeration, and never in direct contact with water or ice. Eggs on display that are not held that cold are labeled "Display Only - Not for Consumption."

Source: MDA small-producer guidelines, COMAR 15.04.01.04 and COMAR 15.04.01.08.

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

The department's guidelines say a registered producer may sell and transport their own eggs to restaurants and other retailers, and is not required to get a health-department license to do it. A sale to a retailer, a food service facility or a distributor has to come with an invoice: seller and buyer, the date, the grade and size, the quantity, and the inspection fee where one applies. The guidelines say a farmers' market does not require that invoice, and a restaurant or retailer does.

The packer registration is what the rule requires of the person who packs the eggs, including a fee-exempt flock. This directory is built for a sale straight to the person who will eat the eggs. A standing wholesale account is a question for the department.

Source: MDA small-producer guidelines, COMAR 15.04.01.03, COMAR 15.04.01.09 and MDA shell-egg invoice requirements.

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

The packing rule says a carton shows, in contrasting permanent ink: a notice that the eggs be refrigerated, the distributor's or packer's name and address, the packer's registration number, the lot, the word eggs, the size, the quantity, and the grade. Grade and size are not abbreviated. The department's guidelines and its labeling sheet add the safe-handling statement and type sizes, give the grade as AA or A, and say the registration number is the one the department issues.

Loose eggs need a placard at least 4 1/2 by 6 inches, with grade, size, packer and lot in letters at least 3/8 inch, and the grade and size may not be abbreviated.

The guidelines say reusing cartons is strongly discouraged, and dirty cartons are prohibited. A clean reused carton bears only the correct information, with every other marking obliterated: a USDA grade shield, the last packer's name, address or registration number, and claims like organic or cage free unless you can document them. Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs.

Source: COMAR 15.04.01.08, COMAR 15.04.01.04, MDA small-producer guidelines, MDA carton labeling requirements and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

Yes. The statute says all shell eggs are stored, displayed and transported in a refrigerated area at the temperature the Secretary sets. The rule sets 45° for a food service facility or a retailer. The department's guidelines for small producers say eggs are held at 45°F or below ambient temperature. Freezer packs or mechanical refrigeration may be used, and direct contact with water, ice or anything that makes eggs sweat is prohibited. The carton carries a notice that the eggs be refrigerated.

Source: Md. Code, Agric. §4-305.1, COMAR 15.04.01.04, COMAR 15.04.01.08 and MDA small-producer guidelines.

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

The statute and the rules disagree. The statute defines shell eggs as poultry eggs, and poultry as any living domesticated bird, and its fee exemption counts poultry. The egg rules define shell eggs as raw eggs produced by chickens, and count chickens for the exemption. The Salmonella rule's poultry include waterfowl and quail. Ask the Department of Agriculture how registration, grades and cartons apply to duck or quail eggs.

Source: Md. Code, Agric. §4-301, Md. Code, Agric. §4-311.2, COMAR 15.04.01.02 and COMAR 15.11.11.02.

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

The quality standards are the USDA standards for individual shell eggs, with the USDA tolerances for Consumer Grades AA, A and B. The department's guidelines say Grade AA and Grade A are the only consumer grades permitted to be sold in Maryland, and eggs cannot be sold as ungraded or mixed size. The rules don't say in their own words that a fee-exempt producer must candle to set the grade. The voluntary "Maryland Fancy" grade is decided by candling or another method the Secretary accepts.

No rule read for this page tells a producer to wash. The guidelines say the sale of cracked and dirty eggs is restricted by law, and tell producers to contact the department about proper washing. Its "Egg Safety for Small Producers" sheet says to use only clean eggs, and that a lightly soiled egg may be sold only if it is lightly sanded, or washed in potable water 20°F warmer than the egg and at least 90°F with a detergent approved for egg washing. Ask the department before you sell.

Source: COMAR 15.04.01.05, COMAR 15.04.01.07, MDA small-producer guidelines and MDA Egg Safety for Small Producers.