National rules

Can you sell backyard eggs in Chile?

Chile requires health-service authorisation for any food establishment; no small-seller exemption was found. SAG's backyard manual, listed by SAG as in force, requires premises with backyard birds to be registered (RUP).

Read from 3 official sources24 passages quotedChecked October 28, 2026

At a glance

License

Health authorization; ask if it applies

Small-flock line

Not established for small egg sellers

Farmers markets

Ask the health authority

Cartons

New packs; washable reuse if verified

In plain English

No small-seller provision for eggs was found in the national texts checked on 2026-10-28 (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, Arts. 1-13, 107 and Title XIV; Res. Ex. SAG 6.774/2015 and 7.695/2024). The Reglamento applies to everyone involved in producing, storing, distributing or selling food, and setting up and operating any food establishment (premises where food is produced, stored or sold, among others) needs authorisation from the relevant Servicio de Salud. SAG's backyard biosecurity manual describes backyard keepers as holding birds for home consumption or occasional sale without a business start-up or a sanitary resolution; that is a definition in an animal-health manual, not a food-law exemption. Ask the health authority whether your egg sales need authorisation.

A sourced reading of the rules in Chile, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG); Servicios de Salud (food authorisation under the Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos) before you sell.

Do you need a license?

Not stated in the sources we readNot established for small egg sellers
  • Whether a home or farm selling eggs from a small flock counts as a food establishment needing authorisation was not established.
  • The Reglamento lets the Ministry of Health name establishments whose authorisation may be issued without a prior inspection; no such list was read.

Where you can sell

From home or the farm

Not stated

The Reglamento applies to everyone who produces or sells food, and any food establishment needs Servicio de Salud authorisation. No national rule on farm-gate egg sales from small flocks was found in the texts checked on 2026-10-28; ask the health authority.

Farmers markets

Not stated

No market-specific rule was found in the national texts checked on 2026-10-28 (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos). Eggs with stained, cracked or broken shells, blood spots or other listed defects may not be sold; ask the health authority what a market stall needs.

Stores and restaurants

Not stated

Shell eggs for direct consumption must reach points of sale in new containers or trays. No rule for eggs from small flocks sold to shops or restaurants was found in the texts checked on 2026-10-28; ask the health authority.

Also check with: Servicios de Salud (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, Arts. 4 and 6)

Cartons, labels and handling

Cartons

Shell eggs for direct consumption must be transported to the point of sale in new containers or trays; returnable packaging may be reused only if it can be washed and disinfected, with the cleaning's effectiveness verified by the health authority.

“Todo huevo entero en su cáscara, destinado a consumo directo, deberá ser transportado a los sitios de expendio en envases o bandejas nuevas. … Se permite el empleo de embalajes de retorno siempre que sea posible lavarlos y desinfectarlos … la eficacia de dicho proceso deberá ser verificada por la autoridad sanitaria.”

Refrigeration

“Artículo 338.- Huevo conservado es el huevo entero en su cáscara que se ha mantenido refrigerado o en un lugar fresco y que tiene un período de almacenaje no superior a 30 días.”

The label must show

  • Huevo conservado en lugar fresco, on eggs kept refrigerated or in a cool place and stored up to 30 days
  • Huevo Refrigerado, on eggs kept chilled from production for more than 30 days

Grading

No grade or size classes for shell eggs were found in the Reglamento's egg title (Arts. 336-345). It defines fresh, conserved and refrigerated eggs by storage time and prohibits selling eggs that are stained, have cracked or broken shells, show signs of putrefaction or blood spots, or have the other defects listed in Article 341 (Arts. 337-341).

Washing

A washing rule was found only for establishments making liquid or frozen egg (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, Art. 345).

Pricing your dozen? The egg price calculator works it out from your feed bill.

Keeping chickens in Chile? →Registration, bird-flu housing orders and welfare rules, on their own page.Registration: conditions

Common questions

Can I sell eggs from my backyard chickens in Chile, and do I need a license?
Chile requires health-service authorisation for any food establishment; no small-seller exemption was found. SAG's backyard manual, listed by SAG as in force, requires premises with backyard birds to be registered (RUP). Small-flock line: not established for small egg sellers. The conditions, and the law they come from, are on this page.
Can I sell eggs at a farmers market in Chile?
Not stated in the sources we read. No market-specific rule was found in the national texts checked on 2026-10-28 (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos). Eggs with stained, cracked or broken shells, blood spots or other listed defects may not be sold; ask the health authority what a market stall needs. Also check with Servicios de Salud (Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, Arts. 4 and 6).
Can I reuse egg cartons in Chile?
Only returnable packaging that can be washed and disinfected may be reused, with the cleaning's effectiveness verified by the health authority; otherwise shell eggs must be transported to the point of sale in new containers or trays. The rule reads: "Todo huevo entero en su cáscara, destinado a consumo directo, deberá ser transportado a los sitios de expendio en envases o bandejas nuevas. … Se permite el empleo de embalajes de retorno siempre que sea posible lavarlos y desinfectarlos … la eficacia de dicho proceso deberá ser verificada por la autoridad sanitaria."
What has to be on the carton label in Chile?
Huevo conservado en lugar fresco, on eggs kept refrigerated or in a cool place and stored up to 30 days, Huevo Refrigerado, on eggs kept chilled from production for more than 30 days. The rule reads: "El envase de este tipo de huevos deberá ser rotulado con las palabras ''Huevo conservado en lugar fresco''. … El envase de este tipo de huevos deberá ser rotulado con las palabras ''Huevo Refrigerado''."
Do eggs I sell in Chile have to be kept cold?
The rule reads: "Artículo 338.- Huevo conservado es el huevo entero en su cáscara que se ha mantenido refrigerado o en un lugar fresco y que tiene un período de almacenaje no superior a 30 días."
Sources
Read the 24 passages this page is built on
What we couldn't confirm
  • The Reglamento sets 2 °C as the maximum only for eggs sold as refrigerated (kept chilled for more than 30 days); conserved eggs may be kept refrigerated or in a cool place for up to 30 days, and fresh eggs are stored no more than 8 days. No other storage temperature for shell eggs was found.
  • Whether eggs in trays or cartons count as packaged food needing the general label of Article 107 was not established.
  • The Reglamento's text names the Servicios de Salud as the authorising body; which office handles authorisations for egg sales today was not established from the texts read.
  • No standing national order to house backyard birds was identified; current avian-influenza status is not shown. SAG orders sanitary measures by resolution, in force on publication in the Diario Oficial; check SAG's avian influenza page.
  • Whether a municipality restricts keeping chickens was not researched; municipal ordinances are binding rules.
  • SAG's backyard manual (Res. Ex. 7.695/2024) takes effect on publication in the Diario Oficial; that publication was not verified: SAG's list of norms marks the resolution Vigente but gives no Diario Oficial publication date.
  • The animal traceability programme (Res. Ex. 6.774/2015) makes participation obligatory for bird keepers to the extent a SAG resolution so determines; apart from the backyard manual, no such resolution for backyard birds was identified.

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