Can I sell eggs in New Jersey?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in New Jersey?

New Jersey’s Egg Act applies to eggs marketed to consumers, institutional consumers and retailers, and “market” includes selling, giving and bartering (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10, 4:3-11.11). The Act as read names no license or permit and has no exemption for a small flock or for a producer. It directs the State Board of Agriculture to set grades and size-weight classes (4:3-11.12), and N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23 requires eggs marketed to consumers, institutional consumers or retailers to be edible and meet the federal consumer grades AA, A or B.

The rule makes one exception: restricted eggs may be marketed under the exemption provisions of the federal Egg Products Inspection Act and USDA’s egg inspection regulation, 7 CFR Part 59, and any later changes to those federal rules. Those provisions are now 7 CFR §57.100. It lets a producer sell restricted eggs (checks, dirty eggs, leakers and similar, §57.1) from their own flock directly to a household consumer, up to 30 dozen a sale (c). It also exempts a producer with an annual production from a flock of 3,000 hens or less from the federal restricted-egg controls and from the records in §57.200 (d). Those exemptions do not apply where state or local law prohibits restricted eggs. The federal text does not say it waives grading for eggs that are not restricted eggs.

The Department’s farm-market guidelines and its guide to Chapter 24 say a flock exempted under the federal egg program is exempt from grading and should register with the Department. They cite no statute or regulation. They differ from each other on the flock line (“does not exceed 3,000 birds” and “under 3,000 birds”), on the per-customer limit and on the label, and they say more than the Act and the rule read for this page do. Ask the Department which applies to a small flock.

The Act also says nothing in it or in the rules exempts a person or premises from other laws on storing, selling or serving food (4:3-11.15(c)). N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.5 defines a retail food establishment as an operation that provides food to a consumer, lists a market among them, and excludes a produce stand that offers only whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables, a food processing plant and certain private-home kitchens. The exclusions do not name a farm egg stand. Ask your local health department as well.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10 to 4:3-11.15, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23, 7 CFR §57.100, 7 CFR §57.1, NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales, Chapter 24 and You and N.J.A.C. 8:24-1.5.

How many eggs can I sell without a license in New Jersey?

The Egg Act and N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23 set no dozen or hen cap. The federal rule limits each direct sale of restricted eggs to a household consumer to 30 dozen (7 CFR §57.100(c)) and names a flock of 3,000 hens or less (§57.100(d)); both limits belong to that rule’s treatment of restricted eggs.

The Department’s farm-market guidelines say sales of “restricted eggs” may not exceed 30 dozen per customer. Its guide to Chapter 24, prepared with the Department of Health, says the exemption is “limited to a maximum of 50 dozen per customer.” The two Department documents give different figures, and neither cites the Act or the rule. Ask the Department which applies to you.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10 to 4:3-11.15, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23, 7 CFR §57.100, NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales and Chapter 24 and You.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in New Jersey?

The Department’s farm-market guidelines and its guide to Chapter 24 both say restricted eggs may be sold at an established place of business away from the farm, and the guide gives a farmers market as its example. The federal rule adds that such a business must be owned and managed by the producer and that the eggs go directly from the producer to it (7 CFR §57.100(c)(1) and (2)). The Egg Act’s grade and container provisions apply to eggs marketed to consumers wherever they are sold (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10). The guide also says Chapter 24 covers community farmers markets because they are retail establishments. The sources read do not say what permit, if any, a market stall needs; ask the market manager and your local health department.

Source: NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales, Chapter 24 and You, 7 CFR §57.100 and N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10.

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

The federal farm-sale exemption covers a producer’s sale directly to a household consumer for that household’s use (7 CFR §57.100(c)). The Egg Act covers eggs marketed to retailers and institutional consumers, meaning a restaurant, hotel, boarding house or similar business (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10, 4:3-11.11), and requires the seller to give an invoice showing the date, the seller’s name and address, the purchaser, the quantity, and the grade and size-weight class, kept on file by both for at least 30 days (4:3-11.14). N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23 requires the eggs to meet consumer grades AA, A or B unless the restricted-egg exception applies. N.J.A.C. 8:24-3.2 requires a retail food establishment to receive shell eggs clean and sound, within the restricted-egg tolerances of U.S. Consumer Grade B, and in refrigerated equipment at an ambient air temperature of 45°F or less. Ask the Department of Agriculture about a particular sale.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10 to 4:3-11.14, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23, 7 CFR §57.100 and N.J.A.C. 8:24-3.2.

Do I need to grade or label my eggs in New Jersey?

The Egg Act says the container of eggs marketed in New Jersey must bear prominently on the outside the grade, the size-weight class, the word “eggs”, the numerical count and the name and address of the packer or distributor. The grade and size-weight letters must be bold type at least 3/8 inch high. A reused container must have any label or lettering that does not fit its new contents removed (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.13). Eggs not in a labeled container are shown with a sign giving the grade and size-weight class.

The words “fresh eggs”, or anything that conveys that the eggs are fresh, may be used only on eggs that meet the grade the State Board of Agriculture set for fresh eggs (4:3-11.13(c)). No label, container, display or advertisement may be incorrect or misleading, and an advertisement must show the unabbreviated grade and size-weight class in block letters at least half as high as the tallest letter in the word “eggs” or the tallest figure in the price, whichever is larger (4:3-11.13(d)).

Three size rules cover different things. The Act’s 3/8 inch is for the grade and size-weight letters. N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.31 treats the packer or distributor’s name as prominent when it is in bold type at least 1/16 inch high. N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.38 sets the packer or distributor’s name and address in bold type not less than 1/8 inch nor more than 9/32 inch high, all in the same size, style and color.

N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.38 also bars “New Jersey”, “Jersey”, or the name of a county, municipality or other place in the State on a package, container or advertisement unless the eggs were produced there, except where the words are only the packer or distributor’s own name and address. Each package, display or advertisement may be a separate violation. N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.33 requires a sample of any label or container that carries such a name to be registered with the Department, and N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.35 says a container is reused when anyone refills it with eggs.

The Department’s farm-market guidelines list the same items, plus a nutritional label, and say a reused container is cleaned and relabeled. Its guide to Chapter 24 lists them without the grade. Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs (21 CFR 101.17(h)). Ask the Department what a carton from a small flock must show.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.13, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.31 and 1.33, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.38, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.35, NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales, Chapter 24 and You and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

The Egg Act says anyone assembling, transporting, marketing or processing eggs for marketing must keep them at a temperature not higher than 60°F and in a relative humidity of at least 70%, in containers that are clean, unbroken and free from foreign odor (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.15(a)). The Department’s farm-market guidelines say the temperature of eggs sold under the exemption “shall be maintained at or below 45°F” and that eggs are not cooled directly on ice or water. N.J.A.C. 8:24-3.2 sets 45°F or less as the ambient air temperature for raw shell eggs a retail food establishment receives. The Act’s ceiling and the 45°F figure differ; ask the Department which applies to eggs you sell from your own farm.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.15, NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales and N.J.A.C. 8:24-3.2.

Can I sell duck, quail or other eggs in New Jersey?

The Egg Act defines “eggs” as eggs in the shell that are the product of domesticated chickens (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.11(a)), so its grade, container and temperature provisions are written for chicken eggs. The sources read do not say what rules apply to duck, quail or other eggs, or whether the exemptions the Department describes reach them. Ask the Department of Agriculture about the species you raise.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.11 and NJDA, Minimum Food Safety Requirements for Product Sales.

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

The sources read do not say a seller must wash or candle eggs. The Egg Act requires rules for keeping, processing, transporting and selling eggs under sanitary conditions (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.15(b)), and N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.37 sets four. A compound used to clean eggs must be one USDA has approved for that purpose, used as the maker directs. Egg holding rooms, sales display cases included, must be kept free of dust, litter, broken eggs and other matter that may create offensive odors or harbor bacteria or molds. Equipment used in cleaning, weighing and candling eggs must be kept free of dust and broken egg and cleaned daily. Vehicles used to transport eggs must be clean. Eggs marketed to consumers must meet consumer grades AA, A or B (N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23). Ask the Department what it requires of a seller who does not claim a grade.

Source: N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.15, N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.37 and N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23.