Standards and Specification Division

Product Specifications and 

Certification 

Anjeanette Johnson, Agricultural 

Marketing Specialist

Jeffrey Hendricks, National Shell Egg 

Supervisor
Egg and Egg Product Specification Updates

• Shell Egg Ambient Temperature 

Guidance video

– https://youtu.be/1wla_Rw7Nsk

• Addition of Hard Cooked Eggs

– Purchased $4.3M in product
Egg and Egg Product Specification Updates cont.

• Transition from FSIS to AMS oversight for Egg Products

– FSIS will discontinue certification/oversight for commodity egg 

products and use of the PY200 form

• Vendors have the option for AMS Grading or Auditing certification 

– The deadline to complete transition is May 2022

• Addition of the Supplement for Egg Products

– Update to Whole Egg and All Purpose Egg Mix specifications 
Product Certification and Options

• All items must be certified by USDA 

o Current product certification fall into four categories

― FSIS Certification

― AMS Voluntary Grading Service

― AMS Auditing Service

― AMS Options – Allows vendors to select either Grading or Auditing 

Services

FSIS Certification AMS Grading 

Service

AMS Auditing 

Service

AMS Option

Whole Eggs Shell Eggs Egg Patty Hard Cooked Eggs

All-Purpose Egg Mix
Product Certification and Options cont.

• All items must be certified by USDA 

• Due to FSIS modernization, all egg product certification will transition to AMS Options

• Shell eggs will remain under AMS Grading Service

AMS Grading Service AMS Option

Shell Eggs Hard Cooked Eggs

Whole Eggs

All-Purpose Egg Mix

Egg Patty
USDA Grading Services

• Continuous monitoring of production, processing and product certification under 

AMS Grader supervision

– Includes certification of all raw materials prior to being utilized in finished products 

• Vendor requirements include“:

– Service application

– Plant survey and capability assessment

o Facility resources (office space, sampling station, etc.)
USDA Audit Services

• Production and processing verification conducted through routine QAD audits 

according to the vendor’s approved technical proposal 

o All raw material are under applicable USDA oversight and/or certification

• Vendors are required to submit a sample and technical proposal prior to bidding

o Product Sample (estimate 1 week for review)

o Technical Proposal (estimate up to 2 weeks for review)

o Pre-bid capabilities audit (estimate up to 4 weeks for scheduling)

o Production audits (conducted once awarded)
Technical Proposals

• What is a technical proposal? 

o A detailed quality manual that 

indicates how product requirements 

will be met.

o Written in ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ or 

PDCA format
Technical Proposal Example

Specification Requirement:

Domestic Origin – All products sold to the Department of Agriculture are of 100 

percent domestic origin
Technical Proposal Example cont.

Plan, Do, Check, Act:

Domestic Origin

• Plan and Do – XYZ Egg Company will produce product from only 

domestically sourced flocks

• Check – XYZ Egg Company will maintain source flock records and verify 

with each shipment that all birds are produced domestically. This will be 

made available to USDA officials for review

• Act – If non-domestic eggs are imported to XYZ facility, the company will 

maintain a segregation plan to ensure that non-domestic eggs are not 

used in AMS destined commodity 
Certification Resources

• QAD Grading and Certification

• https://www.ams.usda.gov/resou

rces/qad-procedures

• USDA/AMS, LP Program’s Quality 

Assessment Division (QAD)

• Email: 

QAD.BusinessOps@usda.gov

• Phone: 501-312-2962
Additional Resources

• AEB and AMS New Vendor Webinar

• Proper Temperature Assessment when Receiving 

Deliveries of Shell Eggs 
Points of Contact

Anjeanette Johnson

Agricultural Marketing Specialist

Anjeanette.Johnson@usda.gov

202-692-0086

Jeffrey Hendricks

National Shell Egg Supervisor

Jeffrey.Hendricks@usda.gov

770-519-9572
Questions??