The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
  (1) Advertisement--Any placard, handbill, sign, newspaper advertisement, radio or television advertisement, store marquee, window or roadside sign, online or other related advertisements, or any other method of calling the consumer's attention to eggs.
  (2) Broker--A person who never assumes ownership or possession of eggs, or changes the grade or pack of eggs, but is engaged in the business of acting as an agent, for a fee or commission, in the sale or transfer of eggs between producers or dealer-wholesalers as sellers and dealer-wholesalers, processors or retailers as buyers.
  (3) Case--A 30-dozen egg container as used in commercial practice in the United States. The term "half-case" shall mean a container of 15 dozen eggs.
  (4) Code--The Texas Agriculture Code.
  (5) Consumer--All persons purchasing eggs for consumption and not resale.
  (6) Dealer-wholesaler--A person engaged in the business of buying from producers or other persons on the person's own account and selling or transferring to other dealer-wholesalers, processors, retailers, or other persons and consumers. A dealer-wholesaler further means a person engaged in producing eggs from the person's own flock and disposing of any portion of this production on a graded basis.
  (7) Denatured Eggs--
    (A) Eggs made unfit for human food by treatment or the addition of a foreign substance; or
    (B) Eggs with one-half or more of the shell's surface covered by a permanent black, dark purple, or dark blue dye.
  (8) Graded basis or fully graded basis--A grading operation in which eggs of "B" quality or better are identified as to both size and/or weight quality.
  (9) Inedible eggs--Eggs of the following description: leakers, black rots, white rots, mixed rots, addled eggs, incubated eggs, eggs showing blood rings, eggs containing embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring state), and any eggs unfit for human consumption due to causes other than those listed in this section.
  (10) Lot--Any given quantity of two or more eggs of a named grade billed on an invoice.
  (11) Processor (or Breaker)--A person who operates a plant for the purpose of breaking eggs for freezing, drying, or commercial food manufacturing.
  (12) Producer--Any person who produces and disposes of eggs from the output of the producer's personally owned flock, except that:
    (A) if a producer obtains eggs from any source other than the producer's own flock and markets or disposes of those eggs along with the producer's own production, the producer loses the identity of a producer and all eggs handled or produced by that former producer must comply with labeling and inspection provisions of Chapter 132 of the Code and this chapter.
    (B) if a producer claims a grade designation on any portion of the producer's production, the producer loses his identity as a producer and that former producer's entire production must comply with provisions of Chapter 132 of the Code and this chapter.
  (13) Retail carton--Any container in which eggs for human consumption are offered for sale within the channels of trade or to the consumer in the State of Texas. A paper bag which has been presacked with one or more eggs by the seller shall be construed as a retail carton and must be stamped or marked with all the information required on a retail carton.
  (14) Retailer--A person selling or offering for sale eggs directly to consumers in this state.
  (15) Stock carton--A retail carton that does not bear any commercially printed information required by §15.8(a) of this chapter (relating to Labeling Requirements).
  (16) Ungraded-- A classification of eggs which are marketed by a producer as defined in this chapter and which have not been handled, graded, or packed by a licensee.

Source Note: The provisions of this §15.1 adopted to be effective September 3, 1996, 21 TexReg 7965; amended to be effective March 30, 2023, 48 TexReg 1621