11/15/2025
Good News for Small-scale Egg Producers in Washington State - Action Needed
The Washington State Dept. of Agriculture (WSDA) is looking for feedback on changing the requirements for small farms selling eggs.
The Department is considering rule language that would establish and detail exempting egg producers and packers with flocks of 3000 birds or less that only sell eggs directly to the ultimate consumer from the requirements to obtain an Egg Handler Dealer Endorsement and needing inspections. This would exempt an egg packer with fewer than 3,000 laying hens from needing an egg handler dealer endorsement and from being inspected when only selling shell eggs directly to any household consumer, restaurant, institution, or any other party who has purchased or received their shell eggs for consumption.
Please send your comments to:
Dan Mason
Training and Special Projects Coordinator - Food Safety
[email protected]
This would be a good rule change and deserves your support. No doubt it will face opposition from industrial/commercial egg interest groups, so this would be a good time for us common folk who believe in revitalizing the availability of locally-grown foods to make our voices heard.
It would remove the ambiguity in RCW 36.71.090 which would seem to already allow small-scale egg producers to sell eggs at farmers' markets (as well as sales through CSA' and on-farm sales which are already allowed) without a dealers' license, inspection or affixing egg seals (RCW 36.71.090 says "It shall be *lawful* for any farmer, gardener, or other person, without license, to sell, deliver, or peddle any ... eggs, ... produced ... by such person" without any reference to the location of the sale), but in practice WSDA seems to require an egg dealer's license to sell eggs at a farmers' market.
AND the proposed language would extend that exemption to include sales to restaurants, institutions, "or any other party who has purchased or received their shell eggs for consumption" [as opposed to for resale]. This is pretty cool!
So PLEASE email Dan Mason ([email protected]) in SUPPORT of these proposed changes.
AND watch the issue closely as it unfolds to make sure no details in the small print end up making life hard for small-scale producers or negatively affect peoples' ability to make their own food choices.
Inland FoodWise Online will continue to keep you informed on the progress of this initiative.
Read the full article on Inland FoodWise Online
The Washington State Dept. of Agriculture (WSDA) is looking for feedback on changing the requirements for small farms selling eggs. The Department is considering rule language that would establish and detail exempting egg producers and packers with flocks of 3000 birds or less that only sell eggs di...
