Can I sell eggs in Nebraska?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Nebraska?

Not the food establishment permit, if the eggs are your own. The Pure Food Act: “A food establishment which produces eggs and only stores, packages, sells, delivers, or otherwise provides for human consumption the eggs it produces, or only stores, packages, sells, delivers, or otherwise provides for human consumption eggs produced from no more than four producers at the same time, is exempt from the requirements of subsections (1) through (6) of this section” (Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270(8)). Those subsections are the permit, its application and its fees. The exemption is from those six subsections only, and the text says nothing else about the rest of the Act.

An egg number, yes. “Any person who for remuneration packs and sells, offers for sale, barters, or otherwise provides eggs for human consumption shall comply with all applicable requirements set forth in rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the department and shall establish the source of the eggs by labeling the eggs with a packer identification number assigned by the department or the United States Department of Agriculture” (81-2,270.01). The Department’s sheet says “USDA does not issue a number if there are less than 3000 hens. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) issues an ‘Egg Number’ for flocks under 3000 hens,” and its cottage food page says “It’s free.” The number is asked for by calling 402-471-3422.

Eggs are not cottage food. The Department’s answer: “The sale of eggs does not fall under cottage food. However, they can still be sold exactly as they have been sold. If you want to sell eggs you have produced and have less than 3,000 hens, contact the Nebraska Department of Ag and ask for an egg number.” The cottage food statute also leaves “Raw eggs” off what a home producer may sell under it (81-2,280(2)(c)). A “produce stand” outside the food establishment definition is one that “only offers whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables” (81-2,245.01(2)), and the statute does not name eggs.

The Pure Food Act authorizes the Department to “adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to provide for source labeling on eggs which are packaged” (81-2,288(2)). The Department’s list of its laws and regulations names no egg rule under the Act, and the Secretary of State’s rules site, where the official Nebraska Administrative Code is kept, answers only to a script the sources here could not run. Whether an egg rule exists is unread. Ask the Department.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270.01, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,245.01, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,280, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,288, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number, NDA, Nebraska Cottage Food Registration and NDA, Laws and Regulations.

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

None is in the statutes or the Department’s pages read. The exemption in 81-2,270(8) has no hen or dozen line, and the egg number section has none. The 3,000-hen figure in the Department’s pages is where the federal number stops and Nebraska’s begins, not a Nebraska sales limit: the sheet says the Department issues its number “for flocks under 3000 hens.” What the Department does for a flock of 3,000 or more is unread. The federal line is separate: a shell egg producer with “3,000 or more laying hens at a particular farm that does not sell all of your eggs directly to consumers” (21 CFR 118.1).

The limit that does appear is on the source: a food establishment handling eggs “produced from no more than four producers at the same time” is inside the exemption (81-2,270(8)). Whether a farm’s own flock counts as one of the four, and how “at the same time” is counted, is unread.

A producer who sells to a store or another buyer that resells may meet the Poultry and Egg Resources Act’s per-case fee, which is charged on eggs “sold through commercial channels,” meaning sold to “any commercial buyer, dealer, processor, or cooperative or to any person who resells” them (Neb. Rev. Stat. 2-3403(13), 2-3408). The Act does not exempt small buyers by itself: it says the director “may exempt” a first purchaser whose “annual average weekly volume is less than twenty-five thirty-dozen cases per week” (which prints both numbers) “whenever the administrative cost of collecting and processing the fees received from such sources exceeds the amount of income derived therefrom” (2-3412). Whether the director has done so is unread. The Act ends December 31, 2027 (2-3401). A sale straight to a consumer is not in the definition.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270.01, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number, Neb. Rev. Stat. 2-3401 to 2-3416 and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Nebraska?

Yes, with the egg number. The Department’s farmers market sheet (updated March 2021) lists, under what can be sold without a permit, “Eggs from local producers. An ‘egg number’ must be obtained from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (at no charge). Eggs must be maintained at 45° F,” and again: “Eggs: Egg number required. From own flock, must be clean, candled for quality, have Nebraska Egg Code Number, kept at 45° F or below and labeled with the owner’s name, address and the Nebraska Egg Code Number.”

The Department sends a retail food establishment in Lancaster, Douglas or Hall County to that county’s own jurisdiction: “your request for permit will be forwarded to the appropriate jurisdiction.” What a county health department asks of an egg stall in those counties is unread here: Lincoln-Lancaster’s pages turned away the request, and Douglas County’s cottage food page carries nothing on eggs. Ask the local health department.

Selling by online request and pickup at a market is not addressed. See the listing question under cartons.

Source: NDA, Food Safety and Regulation Requirements for Farmers Markets & Craft Shows and NDA, Application / Inspection Areas.

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

The exemption does not name a buyer. A producer that “only stores, packages, sells, delivers, or otherwise provides for human consumption the eggs it produces” is outside the permit section whoever buys (81-2,270(8)), and the egg number section reaches anyone who “sells” or “barters” eggs for remuneration (81-2,270.01). Neither text mentions a store or a restaurant.

The rules on the buyer’s side are unread. The Department’s egg sheet quotes the Food Code for a food establishment: “Eggs shall be received clean and sound and may not exceed the restricted egg tolerances for U.S. Consumer Grade B” (3-202.13). Whether an egg number holder counts as an approved source for a permitted restaurant or store, and whether its eggs must be graded, are not said. Ask the Department.

The Poultry and Egg Resources Act’s fee applies to a sale to a buyer who resells (see limits).

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270.01, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number and Neb. Rev. Stat. 2-3401 to 2-3416.

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

The egg number, the owner’s name and address, and the quantity. The Department’s farmers market sheet says eggs from your own flock are “labeled with the owner’s name, address and the Nebraska Egg Code Number.” The egg sheet quotes the Food Code’s label rule for a packer or distributor: “(3) An accurate declaration of the quantity of contents; (4) The name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor,” and adds “this includes the ‘Egg Number’ from NDA.” It also shows the federal safe handling statement as an example: “SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria: keep eggs refrigerated, cook eggs until yolks are firm, and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly.” Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs (21 CFR 101.17(h)); the Department’s market sheet does not mention it for a farm’s own sale.

Reusing cartons is not addressed in the sources read: nothing says whether an old carton’s grade, size or another packer’s number must come off. Ask the Department.

Whether a grade or size must be on the carton is not said either. The sources read never call for one for an egg number holder, and never excuse one.

A listing that shows a price per dozen, on this site or elsewhere, is not addressed: no source read says whether an online listing or price is an “offer for sale” that carries more than the egg number (81-2,270.01 reaches one who “offers for sale”). The Department’s cottage food rules do address an online advertisement, for a cottage food producer only: notice of an unregulated kitchen must appear “in any print, radio, television, or Internet advertisement” (81-2,280(5)(c)), and eggs are not cottage food. Ask the Department.

Source: NDA, Food Safety and Regulation Requirements for Farmers Markets & Craft Shows, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270.01, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,280, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,244.01 and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

The Department says 45°F or below. Its farmers market sheet: “Eggs must be maintained at 45° F,” and “kept at 45° F or below.” Its egg sheet prints the statute behind that: “Eggs that have not been treated to destroy all viable Salmonellae shall be stored in refrigerated equipment that maintains an ambient air temperature of forty-five degrees Fahrenheit (seven degrees Celsius) or less” (81-2,272.01).

That section was repealed in 2025 (“Repealed. Laws 2025, LB245, § 17”), and the sheet is dated December 2019. What now carries the 45°F line is unread: the Act adopts the 2022 Food Code, less some sections, and this page does not read the code’s text. The Department’s market sheet, dated March 2021, is the newer of the two. Ask the Department whether it still holds.

Whether the exemption in 81-2,270(8) excuses an own-egg seller from the Act’s food handling rules, this one included, is unread.

Source: NDA, Food Safety and Regulation Requirements for Farmers Markets & Craft Shows, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,272.01, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,244.01, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270 and FDA Food Code 2022.

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

The sources read do not say. The Pure Food Act’s egg sections say “eggs” and define no bird, and the Department’s pages speak of “hens” and of an egg number for “flocks under 3000 hens.” The Poultry and Egg Resources Act’s “commercial eggs” are “eggs from domesticated chickens” (2-3403(10)), which is that Act’s definition only. Ask the Department whether an egg number is issued for duck, goose or quail eggs and what the exemption in 81-2,270(8) covers.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270, Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-2,270.01, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number and Neb. Rev. Stat. 2-3401 to 2-3416.

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

The Department’s farmers market sheet says eggs from your own flock “must be clean, candled for quality.” The egg sheet, quoting the Food Code, says eggs are received “clean and sound.” Neither gives a method, a temperature or a sanitizer, and no statute read requires a farm to candle. The old Graded Egg Act, sections 2-3501 to 2-3525, was repealed in 2017 (“Repealed. Laws 2017, LB134, § 15”), and its fund moved to the Pure Food Cash Fund (2-3526).

Whether candling is a rule for an exempt own-egg seller or the market sheet’s advice is not said. Ask the Department.

Source: NDA, Food Safety and Regulation Requirements for Farmers Markets & Craft Shows, NDA, Information for Individuals Receiving an Egg Number and Neb. Rev. Stat. 2-3501 to 2-3526.