Can I sell eggs in Ohio?

Do I need a license to sell eggs in Ohio?

For a farm that keeps 500 or fewer birds and sells from the farm, no license appears in the sources read. The retail food law exempts from the retail food establishment license “A person who annually maintains five hundred or fewer birds, on the condition that the person offers the eggs from those birds directly to the consumer from the location where the eggs are produced or at a farm product auction to which division (B)(11) of this section applies” (R.C. 3717.22(B)(8)). Division (B)(11) is a farm product auction registered under R.C. 3717.221 that offers only the products the section lists. A “food processing establishment” “does not include” “a small egg producer,” defined as “any person that is engaged in the operation of egg production and annually maintains five hundred or fewer birds” (R.C. 3715.021(A)). The egg chapter (R.C. 925.01 to 925.13) sets no license.

The Department of Agriculture’s small-egg page says: “Effective October 1, 2025, small egg producers are no longer required to register with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and are considered an approved source for retail sale.” The code’s own page shows R.C. 3715.021 effective September 30, 2025 (House Bill 96), so the two dates are a day apart. The page adds: “Properly labeled eggs may be sold from your farm, from a registered farm market that you own/operate or a registered farm product auction.”

The egg chapter reads more narrowly. Its exemption says “Producers selling only shell eggs of their own hens’ production on the premises where produced or selling directly to hatcheries are exempted” (R.C. 925.10), and it defines a “producer” as a person who “maintains annually more than five hundred birds” (R.C. 925.01(C)). Its carton rules say “No person” (R.C. 925.021). Read on its words, that exemption names the larger flocks and not a flock of 500 or fewer. The Department’s page settles labeling for a small flock (see the carton question) and does not speak to the chapter’s refrigeration and records sections.

Source: Ohio R.C. 3717.22, Ohio R.C. 3717.221, Ohio R.C. 3715.021, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Small Egg Production, Ohio R.C. 925.01, Ohio R.C. 925.10 and Ohio R.C. 925.021.

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

The limit in the sources is birds, not dozens: 500. It is the line in the retail food exemption (R.C. 3717.22(B)(8)), in the definition of a small egg producer (R.C. 3715.021(A)(2)) and, from the other side, in the egg chapter’s “producer,” a person with more than 500 (R.C. 925.01(C)). Each counts a person who “annually maintains” the birds. No dozen limit turned up in any of them.

“Birds” is the word in those sections, and it is not defined. The registration-fee section still excuses “Persons that are engaged in egg production and that maintain annually five hundred or fewer laying hens” (R.C. 3715.041(G)(6)), while its own definition of a food processing establishment comes from R.C. 3715.021, which now says birds. The sources read do not say whether the count includes pullets, ducks or a mixed flock, or how a farm that keeps more birds at one point in the year is counted. A farm near 500 should ask the Department.

A federal rule adds a second number. FDA’s egg safety rule covers a farm with 3,000 or more laying hens “that does not sell all of your eggs directly to consumers” (21 CFR 118.1), and its words do not reach a farm under that line.

Source: Ohio R.C. 3717.22, Ohio R.C. 3715.021, Ohio R.C. 3715.041, Ohio R.C. 925.01 and 21 CFR 118.1.

Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Ohio?

The Department’s small-egg page says a small egg producer is “considered an approved source to sell your eggs to a retailer, restaurant or at a farmer’s market,” and adds: “NOTE: A small egg producer must also license with their local health department to sell eggs at a farmer’s market.” The statute reads beside it as follows. The list of what a vendor at a farmers market may sell without a retail food license is fresh unprocessed fruits or vegetables, cottage food products, tree syrup, sorghum, honey, apple syrup or apple butter, wine and commercially prepackaged food that is not potentially hazardous. It does not name eggs (R.C. 3717.22(B)(2)), and the egg exemption is tied to “the location where the eggs are produced” or a registered farm product auction (R.C. 3717.22(B)(8)). The page lists a farmers market apart from “your farm,” as the statute does. The sources read do not name the license, its category or its fee.

The Department’s page names a different door, “a registered farm market that you own/operate.” A “farm market,” “a location where a producer offers fruits, vegetables, and other items for sale,” “may register with the director of agriculture,” who inspects it (R.C. 3717.221). A registered one may sell eggs on the condition that they “were produced by the person offering to sell them” and “the person offering to sell them annually maintains five hundred or fewer birds” (R.C. 3717.22(B)(16)(f)). The rule calls a registered farm market “a producer operated facility” (Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-01(B)(5)) and a farmers’ market “a location where producers congregate to offer food items for sale” (901:3-6-01(B)(6)). A farm market that does not register “will be regulated pursuant to Chapter 3717. of the Revised Code as a retail food establishment or a food service operation” (901:3-6-01(A)), and a registered one keeps eggs “clean, sound and maintained in an ambient air temperature of forty-five degrees Fahrenheit or less” (901:3-6-02(B)).

The rules for licensed mobile retail food establishments rate “pre-packaged non-time/temperature controlled for safety foods” low risk (Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-4-05(E)), and the low-risk mobile fee “will be fifty per cent of the mobile retail food establishment fee” (901:3-4-03(A)(4)). The rule does not name eggs. An Ohio State University Extension law bulletin of April 25, 2024 reads pre-packaged eggs as a food that qualifies for the low-risk mobile license. Ask the local health department which license your market stall takes.

Source: Ohio Department of Agriculture, Small Egg Production, Ohio R.C. 3717.22, Ohio R.C. 3717.221, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-01, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-02, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-4-05, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-4-03 and Ohio State University Extension, Farm Office, low-risk mobile food vendor license (April 25, 2024).

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

The retail food exemption is for eggs offered “directly to the consumer” (R.C. 3717.22(B)(8)), and “retail” is “the sale of food to a person who is the ultimate consumer” (R.C. 3717.01), which a store or a restaurant is not. The Department’s small-egg page says a small egg producer is “considered an approved source to sell your eggs to a retailer, restaurant or at a farmer’s market.” Its Letter of Opinion 2025-01, from the Department’s Division of Food Safety and the Department of Health’s Food Safety Program (October 21, 2025), says small egg producers “will no longer be subject to registration/inspection by the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food Safety,” and that “a small egg producer will be classified as an approved source for an FSO and RFE,” a food service operation and a retail food establishment.

The published rule does not say that yet. The approved-source definition in the Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code (Ohio Adm.Code 3717-1-01(B)(4)(b), effective September 5, 2024) names “A cottage food production operation” and “an exempt processor of tree syrup, honey, sorghum, apple syrup, or apple butter,” and no small egg producer. The letter says: “The intent of this letter is to communicate this change until the Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code, OAC 3717-1-01 (B)(4) is officially amended. This interpretation shall be binding and applied uniformly across the state.” Its version of the definition adds the small egg producer, as long as it is “in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 3715. of the Revised Code and any applicable rules adopted thereunder.” The letter is addressed to “Health Commissioners, Directors of Environmental Health, Food Program Specialists and Interested Parties”; ask the buyer what it will accept.

Source: Ohio R.C. 3717.22, Ohio R.C. 3717.01, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Small Egg Production and Ohio Adm.Code 3717-1-01.

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

The egg chapter says: “No person shall sell, offer for sale, or expose for sale shell eggs in a container which is not labeled with” “The name and address of the packer or distributor”; “An accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of numerical count”; “The date the shell eggs were processed”; and “The correct grade and size or weight class of the contents” (R.C. 925.021(A)). Eggs that have not been graded, or fail a grade, are labeled “ungraded” or “unclassified,” and “mixed size” is allowed in place of a size “if the eggs average twenty-one ounces or more per dozen.” The section “does not apply to shell eggs inspected by an agency of the United States government” (925.021(C)). The same “No person” opens the bulk-lot section, which asks for a placard with letters no less than one-half inch high giving the grade and size, or “ungraded” or “unclassified” (R.C. 925.022). The general food law adds that a package carries “The name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor” and “An accurate statement of the quantity of the contents” (R.C. 3715.60(E), as amended March 20, 2026), and applies to shell eggs where it is not in conflict with the egg chapter (R.C. 925.02).

The Department’s page says: “A small egg producer is held to the same labeling requirements as a large egg producer.” Its Letter of Opinion 2025-01 says a small egg producer “will be subject to the labeling requirements in 925 of the Revised Code and 21 CFR 101.17(h).” The page and the letter each list the requirements, and the lists differ from the statute in three places. The page says “The date the shell eggs were packed into the egg carton”; the letter and the statute say “processed.” The page and the letter both list “ungraded” or “unclassified” and “mixed size” as requirements, where the statute requires “ungraded” or “unclassified” for eggs not graded and only permits “mixed size,” under the 21-ounce condition. The page and the letter say “The name and address of the operation”; the statute says the packer or distributor.

Two more rules bind the words. Shell eggs may not be sold or advertised as “No. 1,” “specials,” “fancy,” “direct from farm,” “quality eggs,” “hennery eggs,” “fresh eggs,” “new laid eggs” or “strictly fresh eggs,” “or any other name of similar import,” unless they meet “the minimum requirements for United States consumer grade A” (R.C. 925.024), and may not be sold under terms that imply federal grading unless officially graded (R.C. 925.025). An advertisement for eggs has to give the grade and size, or “ungraded” (R.C. 925.023). Federal rules put the "Safe Handling Instructions" statement on every carton of shell eggs (21 CFR 101.17(h)).

On reuse, the statute is silent, and the Department’s page says: “Cartons may be reused however all non-pertinent information must be defaced from the carton (i.e. original processor’s name/address, any graded information, dates, etc.) The safe handling statement can remain intact. Reused cartons should be in sound condition and free from any visible dirt.” The sources read do not say which list the Department holds a farm to where its list and the statute’s differ. Ask the Department.

Source: Ohio R.C. 925.021, Ohio R.C. 925.022, Ohio R.C. 3715.60, Ohio R.C. 925.02, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Small Egg Production, Ohio R.C. 925.024, Ohio R.C. 925.025, Ohio R.C. 925.023 and 21 CFR 101.17(h).

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

The egg chapter says: “Each producer and processor shall maintain shell eggs in refrigeration at an ambient temperature that does not exceed forty-five degrees Fahrenheit,” with “a thermometer, graduated in degrees Fahrenheit,” in use (R.C. 925.03(A) and (C)). It binds a “food processor, distributor, and owner or operator of a food service establishment, retail food store, or other food establishment” from receipt until sale (925.03(B)). A “producer” is a person with more than 500 birds, and a “processor” is “any person engaged in the operation of assembling, receiving, grading, or packing shell eggs for commercial sale or distribution,” with no bird count (R.C. 925.01(B) and (C)). The Department’s small-egg page speaks to labeling and does not mention temperature. The sources read do not say whether a flock of 500 or fewer, or a farm that packs its own eggs, is bound by it. A registered farm market keeps eggs at 45°F or less (Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-02(B)).

A federal rule says “all shell eggs, whether in intrastate or interstate commerce, held for retail distribution” are stored and displayed under refrigeration at an ambient temperature “not greater than 7.2 °C (45 °F)” at a retail establishment (21 CFR 115.50), and defines that as “an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption directly to consumers” (115.50(a)). The sources read do not say how that meets a farm’s on-farm sale. Ask the Department.

Source: Ohio R.C. 925.03, Ohio R.C. 925.01, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-02 and 21 CFR 115.50.

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

The retail food exemption and the small egg producer definition say “birds” and “eggs” without a species (R.C. 3717.22(B)(8), 3715.021(A)(2)). The Department’s farm market rule defines an egg as “the shell egg of avian species such as chicken, duck, goose, guinea, quail, ratites, or turkey,” leaving out a balut, a reptile’s egg and an egg product (Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-01(B)(13)). The egg chapter’s exemption speaks of “their own hens’ production” (R.C. 925.10). The sources read do not say whether the grades or the carton rules treat duck, quail or goose eggs differently from a hen’s. Ask the Department about the species you raise.

Source: Ohio R.C. 3717.22, Ohio R.C. 3715.021, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-01 and Ohio R.C. 925.10.

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

The egg chapter adopts “the standards, grades, and weight classes for shell eggs adopted by the United States department of agriculture” as of July 1, 1958 as the state’s (R.C. 925.02), and a carton says the grade and size or “ungraded” (R.C. 925.021). Nothing read requires a farm selling its own eggs to candle them or sets a washing method, and the Department’s small-egg page does not mention either. The Department’s rule for a registered farm market says eggs shall be “clean, sound and maintained” at 45°F or less (Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-02(B)).

Records are the rest: “Each producer and processor shall keep records of the date of processing of the shell eggs” for “not less than six months” and make them available to the director on request (R.C. 925.04). Whether that reaches a flock of 500 or fewer is the same open question as for refrigeration, and the Department’s page does not speak to it. The sources read do not say how a small farm shows an egg is clean and sound, or which grade an ungraded carton may claim. Ask the Department.

Source: Ohio R.C. 925.02, Ohio R.C. 925.021, Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-6-02 and Ohio R.C. 925.04.