Lowering Egg Prices Act of 2025
This bill permits unrefrigerated surplus eggs originally intended for hatching to be repurposed for use in pasteurized liquid egg products intended for consumption.
Under current regulations, most eggs intended for consumption must be refrigerated within 36 hours of being laid. The bill would exempt from this requirement surplus broiler hatching eggs (eggs originally intended to be hatched and raised for meat) that are repurposed for sale to an egg breaker (a facility that sells liquid egg to food manufacturers).
(Broiler hatching eggs are generally held at a warmer temperature than other eggs in order to facilitate incubation. Because these eggs are not refrigerated, current regulations prohibit the sale of any surplus broiler hatching eggs to egg breakers for use in liquid egg products. Liquid egg products distributed for consumption are separately required under current law to be pasteurized, or treated to destroy bacteria.)
The bill also requires the Food and Drug Administration to revise the refrigeration requirement to permit surplus broiler hatching eggs held at temperatures suitable for hatching chicks to be sold to egg breakers for processing as liquid egg products.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2222 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2222
To make inapplicable to surplus broiler hatching eggs certain
regulations relating to shell eggs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 18, 2025
Mr. Riley of New York (for himself, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Ms.
McDonald Rivet, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Wied, Mr. Harris of Maryland, Mr.
Womack, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Salinas, and Ms.
McBride) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To make inapplicable to surplus broiler hatching eggs certain
regulations relating to shell eggs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Lowering Egg Prices Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN SHELL EGG RULE PROVISIONS TO SURPLUS
BROILER HATCHING EGGS SOLD TO EGG BREAKERS.
(a) Inapplicability of Current Rule.--Effective beginning on the
date of the enactment of this Act, section 118.4(e) of title 21, Code
of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations) shall not apply with
respect to surplus broiler hatching eggs that are intended to be sold
to an egg breaker for purposes of processing such eggs as liquid egg
products subject to regulation under the Egg Products Inspection Act
(21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.).
(b) Revised Rule Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, acting through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and in
consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall issue a rule
revising section 118.4 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or
successor regulations), to allow for surplus broiler hatching eggs to
be held at such temperature and for such period of time at such
temperature, so as to be compatible with conditions for hatching chicks
and to allow for the sale of such eggs to egg breakers for the purposes
described in subsection (a).
(c) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) The terms ``egg'' and ``egg product'' have the meanings
given such terms in section 4 of the Egg Products Inspection
Act (21 U.S.C. 1033).
(2) The term ``egg breaker'' means a facility in the
commercial sector that processes eggs by breaking the eggs out
of their shells and selling the resulting liquid egg product in
bulk to food manufacturers.
(3) The term ``broiler hatching egg'' means an egg intended
for use by broiler hatcheries for the production of baby
chicks.
(4) The term ``broiler hatchery'' means a facility where
fertilized eggs from broiler breeder chickens are incubated and
hatched into day-old chicks, which are then raised on farms to
produce meat as broiler chickens.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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