C3309 - Beef grading, wholesaling and grading of eggs as a business

Operational Details
Egg wholesalers purchase eggs from egg producers, usually farmers and those whose entire business is in the raising of chickens.

Eggs are either delivered or picked up from the producers and brought to the wholesale warehouse where the eggs are off loaded, then loaded onto a conveyor system, and sent through an egg washing machine. The eggs are next put through an egg machine that sorts and weighs the eggs into the different sizes such as: extra-large, large, medium, and small. The eggs are then checked by egg graders who, using backlites, confirm the status of the egg such as: Grade A or B. Others are thrown out because of cracked shells or blood spots.

The eggs are automatically set into flats for large volume shipments. Egg cartons of a dozen or less are filled buy individual workers, working on the line. The finished boxes or cartons are stacked and loaded onto a pallet and returned by forklift to the loading dock and transferred onto either the wholesalers truck’s for distribution, or onto a customer’s truck.

Eggs are sold by the wholesaler to retail grocery stores, chain stores, convenience stores, institutions such as hospitals, schools, armed forces, jails etc.

Commercial wholesalers of eggs is a non-farm activity. However, a poultry farmer may raise poultry and either sell them to a meat processing plant, or raise chickens as egg layers and sell the eggs locally. Farmers markets and door to door are the usual customers for a farmer. However, the large commercial egg wholesalers do not raise the chickens or look after their feeding, or laying, but only purchase eggs for the expressed purpose of re-sale.

SIC Codes
000000250 - Egg wholesaling and gradings
000000933 - Beef grading