Can I sell eggs in Mississippi?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Mississippi?

Not under the egg marketing law, if you sell at your own place. Mississippi exempts "producers selling eggs of their own production, when offered on their own premises, or selling less than six (6) dozen eggs per week" from that article. The department's egg license for small flocks is written for eggs sold "directly to the consumer off the farm."

The sources don't settle the rest. Mississippi's retail food law asks for a $10 license from any "retail food establishment", a place where food is offered for sale to the consumer, and it names raw shell eggs as a potentially hazardous food. No source read for this page says whether a sale at your farm is one. Ask the department's Consumer Protection Division before your first sale.

To sell off the farm, straight to consumers, a Mississippi producer with 500 or fewer laying hens or pullets needs the Retail Food Sanitation License–Eggs. It is $10, renewed every year, and a copy is displayed where the eggs are sold. The hens need NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Plan) testing by the Mississippi Board of Animal Health first, and the Board says joining the program has no fee.

Source: Miss. Code § 69-7-321, § 69-1-18, 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108, MDAC license application and Board of Animal Health, NPIP.

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

Three lines, each doing a different job. Selling fewer than 6 dozen a week, like selling on your own premises, exempts you from the egg marketing article, with its grades, sizes and grade labels. It is not an exemption from the off-farm license, which has no volume floor. The off-farm license is for a flock of 500 or fewer laying hens or pullets. A separate $50 Egg Marketing License is for anyone owning more than 3,000 hens.

The sources don't say which license, if any, covers a flock of 501 to 3,000 hens selling off the farm. Ask the department.

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

Source: Miss. Code § 69-7-321, R. 108, § 69-7-267 and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Mississippi?

Yes, with the department's egg license. Its July 2025 guide for farmers market vendors says eggs need the Retail Food Sanitation License–Eggs, displayed where the eggs are sold, NPIP testing of the hens, and eggs held at or below 45°F "under mechanical refrigeration (in a refrigerator and/or cooler with a/c or d/c power)." It adds that "proper packaging and labeling is required." The rule behind it puts an NSF-approved thermometer in the cooler.

The guide names no health department permit for eggs, and calls itself "a general guideline rather than a comprehensive list." A market can set its own rules. The license is for flocks of 500 hens or fewer, and the sources don't say how a larger flock sells at a market.

Source: MDAC, Permit Requirements for Farmers Market Vendors and 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108.

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

The sources don't give a small flock a clear way to. The $10 egg license is for eggs sold directly to end consumers. The statute asks for the $50 Egg Marketing License from anyone in the business of selling eggs to a retailer, and the same article says it doesn't apply to a producer with fewer than 3,000 laying hens. The department's egg rule says eggs packed for consumers are packed only by a USDA-registered grading facility, except as § 69-7-321 provides.

Ask the department's Consumer Protection Division before you sell to a store, a restaurant or a reseller. Selling for resale is beyond what this directory is built for.

Source: MDAC license application, Miss. Code § 69-7-267, § 69-7-275 and 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 4, R. 100.

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

The exemption section itself says the name and address of the producer, packer or distributor go on the container. Under the off-farm license, the carton or its label shows your name and address, "Keep Refrigerated", the safe handling statement, the word "eggs", the count, and the date of pack. Eggs more than 30 days past the pack date, counting that day, are not sold.

A carton may be reused under the license. The earlier company's labeling is blacked out so the buyer can't see it, and so is the USDA shield: "No labeling shall indicate that the eggs are graded by U.S.D.A."

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.

Source: Miss. Code § 69-7-321, 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108 and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

Under the off-farm license, yes. Clean, dry eggs go into refrigeration within 36 hours of lay and stay at or below 45°F until sold, with a thermometer in the cooler. The egg marketing article sets the same 45°F for anyone storing, displaying or selling eggs, and a producer selling on their own premises is exempt from that article. So the sources set no temperature for a sale at the farm. The department's handling sheet advises holding eggs between 33°F and 45°F.

Federal rules hold shell eggs at a retail establishment at 45°F or colder. A retail establishment is a place that provides food directly to consumers.

Source: 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108, Miss. Code § 69-7-329, MDAC, Safe Egg Handling Practices for Small Producers and 21 CFR 115.50.

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

The sources don't say. The one definition in the egg statute, "eggs means pullet and hen eggs only", belongs to the Egg Marketing Board article alone. The egg marketing article has no definitions of its own, and the off-farm license speaks of laying hens or pullets. Ask the department's Consumer Protection Division before you sell duck, quail or other eggs.

Source: Miss. Code § 69-7-251 and 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108.

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

Under the off-farm license, eggs meet at least USDA Grade B: an unbroken shell with no prominent stains or adhering dirt. They are "cleaned in accordance with Department guidelines or other cleaning methods accepted by industry." The rule describes Grade B by how the egg looks before a candling light, and it doesn't name candling as a step.

The department's handling sheet, which is advice rather than a rule, says clean eggs don't need washing. If you wash, it says use running water at least 20°F warmer than the egg and at least 90°F, don't soak, and test well water every year. For grading, sizing and candling it points you to Consumer Protection.

Source: 2 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 1, Subpt. 4, Ch. 1, R. 108 and MDAC, Safe Egg Handling Practices for Small Producers.