Food safety standard and accreditation for egg producers

The Primary Produce (Food Safety Schemes) (Egg) Regulations 2012) commenced on 1 March 2012. These regulations establish the Egg food safety scheme.

The scheme sets out requirements for an egg producer which include:

• Complying with the new egg food safety standard (Standard 4.2.5)
• Holding accreditation (depending on the activities a producer carries out).

Media releases

Media release: Eggs to be stamped local (21 November 2012)
Media release: New Standards for Egg Food Safety (2 March 2012)

Egg producer requirements

Producers involved in one or more of the following activities must be accredited under the scheme:

• If they have more than 50 laying birds.
• Produce and sell eggs to a food business such as a supermarket, café, hotel or bakery.
• Produce and sell eggs to another egg producer.
• Produce and sell eggs at a market (e.g. a farmers’ market).
• Produce and sell eggs by wholesale.

Egg producer accreditation and fees

To hold accreditation, a producer must:

• Apply for accreditation using the Application for accreditation form (PDF 48.7 KB).
• Pay an accreditation fee (waived for first year) and an annual fee (see table below).
• Put in place, and maintain, an approved food safety arrangement which includes an approved food safety management statement (see examples below) that is audited for compliance by an approved auditor.
• Comply with standard 4.2.5 (Egg and Egg products) of the Food Standards Code  by 26 November 2012.

Backyard producers

If you have a few chickens in your backyard and just give eggs to family and friends you don't have to  be accredited. However, if you sell your eggs to a food business, or any other relevant business, then you will need to be accredited.

Accreditation fees

As the scheme has just been introduced, the application for accreditation fee of $425 is waived. The table below outlines the annual fee depending on the number of hens on your property.

Producers will be sent an invoice to pay the fee after the accreditation application form has been reviewed.

Number of hens on your property	Annual fee
Less than 1000 hens	$181
1001 hens up to 9,999 hens	$671
10,000 to 49,999 hens	$909
More than 50,000 hens	$1446

Food safety management statement examples

• Production of eggs and sale to another producer (Word 420.5 KB).
• Production of eggs including grading (crack detection) and/or washing (Word 420.5 KB).

The new National Egg Food Safety standard

All egg producers selling eggs must comply with the Food Standards Code (standard 4.2.5) covering eggs and egg products. The standard began on 26 November 2012. The standard applies to both accredited producers and non-accredited producers. Key requirements for producers in meeting this standard are:

• They must remove any cracked or dirty eggs from sale.
• They must put in place and maintain a food safety management statement.
• They must control inputs (such as feed, disposal of waste and hygiene standards) to ensure eggs they produce are safe.
• They should be able to trace, if they are asked, where their eggs are sold to.

Contact

For further details contact:

PIRSA Food Safety Program
GPO Box 1671 ADELAIDE SA 5001

Email: Bob.Thomas@sa.gov.au
Phone: (08) 8207 7964

Download Egg food safety and producers brochure (PDF 1.0 MB or DOC 38.5 KB )