Voluntary Shell Egg Grading

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is issuing amendments to the voluntary shell egg grading regulations and standards in response to new technology and current practices in the shell egg industry and to conform to statutory requirements. The amended regulations define washed ungraded eggs and clarify the definition of a quality assurance inspector; add age and disability as types of prohibited discrimination in providing grading services; clarify the type of facilities and equipment to be supplied to a grader and the method by which cartons of eggs are to be identified; update grading room requirements to include mechanized shell egg operations and to require rinse water to be at least as warm as wash water; harmonize the standards for quality of individual shell eggs for B quality in U.S. Nest-Run grades with the U.S. Standards for Quality of Individual Shell Eggs for B quality; and delete wholesale shell egg grades and weight classes.