Pennsylvania's poultry compliance program splits its work between the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services for bird health, the PDA Food Safety program for eggs, and the Department of Environmental Protection for CAFO coverage. The state's egg rules are among the most specific in the catalog: graded eggs carry an expiration date and flock-of-origin and processor codes, and the PDA runs an Egg Quality Assurance Program alongside the licensing requirement. Poultry Log's Pennsylvania catalog records each requirement with its agency, authority, trigger, retention period, and official source link, reviewed against the PDA and PA DEP program portals.
Animal Health Layer: PDA BAHDS
- Importation - poultry, hatching eggs, or other fowl entering Pennsylvania must meet PDA importation and health requirements under 3 Pa. C.S. and 7 Pa. Code Chapter 16, including a permit or certificate of veterinary inspection and any NPIP or Pullorum-Typhoid evidence required for the class of bird.
- Exhibitions - poultry exhibited at a Pennsylvania show must originate from a Pullorum-Typhoid-clean or NPIP-participating flock or have a negative test within 90 days of the event, enforced at check-in, with NPIP program status able to substitute for the separate test while the documentation requirement remains.
- Hatcheries and breeding flocks - a Pennsylvania hatchery, chick dealer, or seller of hatching eggs must participate in the state poultry health program under 7 Pa. Code Chapter 16, keeping source, lot, and testing records. Chicks, poults, or hatching eggs for sale must come from clean or NPIP-participating breeding flocks, tested at least annually, with reactors removed.
- Reportable disease and disposal - a suspected or confirmed reportable poultry disease event, including avian influenza, must be reported immediately to PDA. Carcasses must be disposed of promptly by an approved method under 3 Pa. C.S. and PA DEP disposal requirements, with dated records of each event.
Egg Layer: PDA Food Safety and the Coding Rules
Under 3 Pa. C.S. Chapter 57 and 7 Pa. Code Chapters 85 and 87, a person who grades, candles, packages, or sells eggs as a dealer must hold a Pennsylvania egg dealer license and meet grading, candling, refrigeration, and labeling requirements. Pennsylvania's shell egg rule carries details the catalog records precisely: eggs offered for sale must be clean and wholesome, and when graded, labeled with grade, size, packer name and address, expiration date, and the required flock-of-origin and processor codes. The catalog records that a producer selling only ungraded eggs from their own hens directly to consumers may use the producer exemption, but the eggs must still be clean, wholesome, and honestly represented. The PDA's Egg Quality Assurance Program sits alongside these duties as the state's voluntary quality framework, and the dealer license application and records route through the PDA Food Safety program.
Environmental Layer: PA DEP
A poultry CAFO must obtain NPDES or state CAFO permit coverage from the PA DEP Waterways and Wetlands and Bureau of Clean Water before discharging or operating its waste management system, under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 92 and 40 CFR Part 122, implementing a nutrient management plan and keeping production-area and land-application records. The catalog records the below-threshold position: an operation under the large CAFO threshold (fewer than 125,000 broilers or pullets, or 82,000 laying hens without a wet handling system, or 55,000 turkeys in grow-out) that does not discharge is generally not required to hold a CAFO permit, though designation can change that. Covered operations keep records for the period the permit requires, commonly five years, and submit the annual report under 40 CFR 122.42(e)(4).
Where Poultry Log Fits
Poultry Log's Pennsylvania catalog carries these requirements with official source links and form templates, in the same workspace as the daily records that feed them. The egg coding duties connect to the wholesale egg dealer records guide and the egg labeling laws guide, the NPIP layer to the NPIP participation records guide, and the CAFO layer to the CAFO permit guide. Confirm current requirements with PDA and PA DEP; completing a checklist does not certify legal compliance. Start free at poultrylog.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What labels do Pennsylvania egg cartons require?
Under 3 Pa. C.S. Chapter 57 and 7 Pa. Code Chapters 85 and 87, graded eggs offered for sale in Pennsylvania must be labeled with grade, size, packer name and address, expiration date, and the required flock-of-origin and processor codes, and graded eggs must be refrigerated. A producer selling only ungraded eggs from their own hens directly to consumers may use the producer exemption, with eggs still required to be clean, wholesome, and honestly represented.
What permits do Pennsylvania poultry farms need?
Pennsylvania layers duties across agencies: PDA's Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services for importation, exhibitions, hatcheries, breeding flocks, reportable disease, and carcass disposal under 3 Pa. C.S. and 7 Pa. Code Chapter 16; PDA Food Safety for egg dealer licensing and processing exemptions; and PA DEP for CAFO NPDES coverage under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 92.
What is the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program?
It is the PDA's voluntary egg quality framework running alongside the state's mandatory egg licensing and labeling duties under 3 Pa. C.S. Chapter 57 and 7 Pa. Code Chapters 85 and 87. Poultry Log's Pennsylvania catalog records the mandatory licensing, coding, and retention duties with agency, authority, and official source, in the same workspace as the farm's other records.