Definitions.
RCW 69.25.020
in effectThe definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly otherwise requires. (1) "Adulterated" applies to any egg or egg product under one or more of the following circumstances: (a) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article is not considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health; (b) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance (other than one which is: (i) A pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of the director, make such article unfit for human food; (c) If it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2); (d) If it bears or contains any food additive that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2); (e) If it bears or contains any color additive that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2); however, an article which is not otherwise deemed adulterated under (c), (d), or (e) of this subsection are nevertheless deemed adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive, in or on such article, is prohibited by regulations of the director in official plants; (f) If it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for human food; (g) If it consists in whole or in part of any damaged egg or eggs to the extent that the egg meat or white is leaking, or it has been contacted by egg meat or white leaking from other eggs; (h) If it has been prepared, packaged, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health; (i) If it is an egg which has been subjected to incubation or the product of any egg which has been subjected to incubation; (j) If its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health; (k) If it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption in effect under chapter 15.130 RCW; or (l) If any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is. (2) "Ambient temperature" means the atmospheric temperature surrounding or encircling shell eggs. (3) "At retail" means any transaction in intrastate commerce between a retailer and a consumer. (4) "Business licensing system" means the mechanism established by chapter 19.02 RCW by which business licenses, endorsed for individual state-issued licenses, are issued and renewed utilizing a business license application and a business license expiration date common to each renewable license endorsement. (5) "Cage-free housing system" means an indoor or outdoor controlled environment for egg-laying hens within which: (a) Hens are free to roam unrestricted except by external walls; (b) Hens are provided enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors including, at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas; and (c) Farm employees can provide care while standing somewhere within the hens' usable floor space. (6) "Candling" means the examination of the interior of eggs by the use of transmitted light used in a partially dark room or place. (7) "Capable of use as human food" applies to any egg or egg product unless it is denatured, or otherwise identified, as required by regulations prescribed by the director, to deter its use as human food. (8) "Check" means an egg that has a broken shell or crack in the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not leaking. (9) "Clean and sound shell egg" means any egg whose shell is free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked or broken. (10) "Consumer" means any person who purchases eggs or egg products for his or her own family use or consumption; or any restaurant, hotel, boarding house, bakery, or other institution or concern which purchases eggs or egg products for serving to guests or patrons thereof, or for its own use in cooking or baking. (11) "Container" or "package" includes any box, can, tin, plastic, or other receptacle, wrapper, or cover. (12) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the state of Washington. (13) "Director" means the director of the department or his duly authorized representative. (14) "Dirty egg" means an egg that has a shell that is unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material. (15) "Egg" means the shell egg of the domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea, or any other specie of fowl. (16) "Egg handler" or "dealer" means any person who produces, contracts for or obtains possession or control of any eggs or egg products for the purpose of sale to another dealer or retailer, or for processing and sale to a dealer, retailer or consumer. For the purpose of this chapter, "sell" or "sale" includes the following: Offer for sale, expose for sale, have in possession for sale, exchange, barter, trade, or as an inducement for the sale of another product. (17) "Egg-laying hen" means any female domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea fowl kept for the purpose of egg production. (18)(a) "Egg product" means any dried, frozen, or liquid eggs, with or without added ingredients, excepting products which contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion, or historically have not been, in the judgment of the director, considered by consumers as products of the egg food industry, and which may be exempted by the director under such conditions as the director may prescribe to assure that the egg ingredients are not adulterated and are not represented as egg products. (b) The following products are not included in the definition of "egg product" if they are prepared from eggs or egg products that have been either inspected by the United States department of agriculture or by the department under a cooperative agreement with the United States department of agriculture: Freeze-dried products, imitation egg products, egg substitutes, dietary foods, dried no-bake custard mixes, eggnog mixes, acidic dressings, noodles, milk and egg dip, cake mixes, French toast, balut and other similar ethnic delicacies, and sandwiches containing eggs or egg products. (19) "Immediate container" means any consumer package, or any other container in which egg products, not consumer-packaged, are packed. (20) "Incubator reject" means an egg that has been subjected to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable. (21) "Inedible" means eggs of the following descriptions: Black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs), sour eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy eggs, musty eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring stage). (22) "Inspection" means the application of such inspection methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the director to carry out the provisions of this chapter. (23) "Inspector" means any employee or official of the department authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the authority of this chapter. (24) "Intrastate commerce" means any eggs or egg products in intrastate commerce, whether such eggs or egg products are intended for sale, held for sale, offered for sale, sold, stored, transported, or handled in this state in any manner and prepared for eventual distribution in this state, whether at wholesale or retail. (25) "Leaker" means an egg that has a crack or break in the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell. (26) "Loss" means an egg that is unfit for human food because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking; or overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject; or because it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large quantity of blood, or other foreign material. (27) "Misbranded" applies to egg products that are not labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements prescribed by regulations of the director under RCW 69.25.100 . (28) "Official certificate" means any certificate prescribed by regulations of the director for issuance by an inspector or other person performing official functions under this chapter. (29) "Official device" means any device prescribed or authorized by the director for use in applying any official mark. (30) "Official inspection legend" means any symbol prescribed by regulations of the director showing that egg products were inspected in accordance with this chapter. (31) "Official mark" means the official inspection legend or any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the director to identify the status of any article under this chapter. (32) "Official plant" means any plant which is licensed under the provisions of this chapter, at which inspection of the processing of egg products is maintained by the United States department of agriculture or by the state under cooperative agreements with the United States department of agriculture or by the state. (33) "Official standards" means the standards of quality, grades, and weight classes for eggs, adopted under the provisions of this chapter. (34) "Pasteurize" means the subjecting of each particle of egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful, viable microorganisms by such processes as may be prescribed by regulations of the director. (35) "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership, exchange, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, and any member, officer, or employee thereof, or assignee for the benefit of creditors. (36) "Pesticide chemical," "food additive," "color additive," and "raw agricultural commodity" have the same meaning for purposes of this chapter as defined in chapter 15.130 RCW. (37) "Plant" means any place of business where egg products are processed. (38) "Processing" means manufacturing egg products, including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or packaging egg products. (39) "Restricted egg" means any check, dirty egg, incubator reject, inedible, leaker, or loss. (40) "Retailer" means any person in intrastate commerce who sells eggs or egg products to a consumer. (41) "Shipping container" means any container used in packaging a product packed in an immediate container. (42) "Usable floor space" means the total square footage of floor space provided to each egg-laying hen, calculated by dividing the total square footage of floor space in an enclosure by the number of hens in that enclosure. "Usable floor space" includes ground space and elevated level or nearly level platforms to accommodate egg flow upon which hens can roost, but does not include perches or ramps.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly otherwise requires.
(1) "Adulterated" applies to any egg or egg product under one or more of the following circumstances:
(a) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article is not considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;
(b) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance (other than one which is: (i) A pesticide chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment of the director, make such article unfit for human food;
(c) If it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide chemical that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2);
(d) If it bears or contains any food additive that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2);
(e) If it bears or contains any color additive that renders it adulterated within the meaning of RCW 15.130.200 (2); however, an article which is not otherwise deemed adulterated under (c), (d), or (e) of this subsection are nevertheless deemed adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive, in or on such article, is prohibited by regulations of the director in official plants;
(f) If it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for human food;
(g) If it consists in whole or in part of any damaged egg or eggs to the extent that the egg meat or white is leaking, or it has been contacted by egg meat or white leaking from other eggs;
(h) If it has been prepared, packaged, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health;
(i) If it is an egg which has been subjected to incubation or the product of any egg which has been subjected to incubation;
(j) If its container is composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health;
(k) If it has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption in effect under chapter 15.130 RCW; or
(l) If any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is.
(2) "Ambient temperature" means the atmospheric temperature surrounding or encircling shell eggs.
(3) "At retail" means any transaction in intrastate commerce between a retailer and a consumer.
(4) "Business licensing system" means the mechanism established by chapter 19.02 RCW by which business licenses, endorsed for individual state-issued licenses, are issued and renewed utilizing a business license application and a business license expiration date common to each renewable license endorsement.
(5) "Cage-free housing system" means an indoor or outdoor controlled environment for egg-laying hens within which:
(a) Hens are free to roam unrestricted except by external walls;
(b) Hens are provided enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors including, at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas; and
(c) Farm employees can provide care while standing somewhere within the hens' usable floor space.
(6) "Candling" means the examination of the interior of eggs by the use of transmitted light used in a partially dark room or place.
(7) "Capable of use as human food" applies to any egg or egg product unless it is denatured, or otherwise identified, as required by regulations prescribed by the director, to deter its use as human food.
(8) "Check" means an egg that has a broken shell or crack in the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not leaking.
(9) "Clean and sound shell egg" means any egg whose shell is free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked or broken.
(10) "Consumer" means any person who purchases eggs or egg products for his or her own family use or consumption; or any restaurant, hotel, boarding house, bakery, or other institution or concern which purchases eggs or egg products for serving to guests or patrons thereof, or for its own use in cooking or baking.
(11) "Container" or "package" includes any box, can, tin, plastic, or other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.
(12) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the state of Washington.
(13) "Director" means the director of the department or his duly authorized representative.
(14) "Dirty egg" means an egg that has a shell that is unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material.
(15) "Egg" means the shell egg of the domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea, or any other specie of fowl.
(16) "Egg handler" or "dealer" means any person who produces, contracts for or obtains possession or control of any eggs or egg products for the purpose of sale to another dealer or retailer, or for processing and sale to a dealer, retailer or consumer. For the purpose of this chapter, "sell" or "sale" includes the following: Offer for sale, expose for sale, have in possession for sale, exchange, barter, trade, or as an inducement for the sale of another product.
(17) "Egg-laying hen" means any female domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea fowl kept for the purpose of egg production.
(18)(a) "Egg product" means any dried, frozen, or liquid eggs, with or without added ingredients, excepting products which contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion, or historically have not been, in the judgment of the director, considered by consumers as products of the egg food industry, and which may be exempted by the director under such conditions as the director may prescribe to assure that the egg ingredients are not adulterated and are not represented as egg products.
(b) The following products are not included in the definition of "egg product" if they are prepared from eggs or egg products that have been either inspected by the United States department of agriculture or by the department under a cooperative agreement with the United States department of agriculture: Freeze-dried products, imitation egg products, egg substitutes, dietary foods, dried no-bake custard mixes, eggnog mixes, acidic dressings, noodles, milk and egg dip, cake mixes, French toast, balut and other similar ethnic delicacies, and sandwiches containing eggs or egg products.
(19) "Immediate container" means any consumer package, or any other container in which egg products, not consumer-packaged, are packed.
(20) "Incubator reject" means an egg that has been subjected to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable.
(21) "Inedible" means eggs of the following descriptions: Black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs), sour eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy eggs, musty eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring stage).
(22) "Inspection" means the application of such inspection methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the director to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
(23) "Inspector" means any employee or official of the department authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the authority of this chapter.
(24) "Intrastate commerce" means any eggs or egg products in intrastate commerce, whether such eggs or egg products are intended for sale, held for sale, offered for sale, sold, stored, transported, or handled in this state in any manner and prepared for eventual distribution in this state, whether at wholesale or retail.
(25) "Leaker" means an egg that has a crack or break in the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell.
(26) "Loss" means an egg that is unfit for human food because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking; or overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject; or because it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large quantity of blood, or other foreign material.
(27) "Misbranded" applies to egg products that are not labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements prescribed by regulations of the director under RCW 69.25.100 .
(28) "Official certificate" means any certificate prescribed by regulations of the director for issuance by an inspector or other person performing official functions under this chapter.
(29) "Official device" means any device prescribed or authorized by the director for use in applying any official mark.
(30) "Official inspection legend" means any symbol prescribed by regulations of the director showing that egg products were inspected in accordance with this chapter.
(31) "Official mark" means the official inspection legend or any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the director to identify the status of any article under this chapter.
(32) "Official plant" means any plant which is licensed under the provisions of this chapter, at which inspection of the processing of egg products is maintained by the United States department of agriculture or by the state under cooperative agreements with the United States department of agriculture or by the state.
(33) "Official standards" means the standards of quality, grades, and weight classes for eggs, adopted under the provisions of this chapter.
(34) "Pasteurize" means the subjecting of each particle of egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful, viable microorganisms by such processes as may be prescribed by regulations of the director.
(35) "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership, exchange, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, and any member, officer, or employee thereof, or assignee for the benefit of creditors.
(36) "Pesticide chemical," "food additive," "color additive," and "raw agricultural commodity" have the same meaning for purposes of this chapter as defined in chapter 15.130 RCW.
(37) "Plant" means any place of business where egg products are processed.
(38) "Processing" means manufacturing egg products, including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or packaging egg products.
(39) "Restricted egg" means any check, dirty egg, incubator reject, inedible, leaker, or loss.
(40) "Retailer" means any person in intrastate commerce who sells eggs or egg products to a consumer.
(41) "Shipping container" means any container used in packaging a product packed in an immediate container.
(42) "Usable floor space" means the total square footage of floor space provided to each egg-laying hen, calculated by dividing the total square footage of floor space in an enclosure by the number of hens in that enclosure. "Usable floor space" includes ground space and elevated level or nearly level platforms to accommodate egg flow upon which hens can roost, but does not include perches or ramps.
Source: WA Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=69.25&full=trueFetched: 6/29/2026