South Burnett retiree Murray Koina told to stop selling eggs

Authorities caught up with a Qld retiree who had been selling a few dozen eggs in his rural community this week, demanding he stop unless he paid hundreds of dollars to get a licence to do so.

Murray Koina, 73, was told he can no longer sell his eggs.

A Kilkivan retiree who sells “a few dozen eggs” a week from his pet chooks could not believe it when he received a call from a government agency telling him he was not allowed to sell them without accreditation.

Murray Koina, 73, retired and moved to the South Burnett from Caloundra with his wife six years ago hoping to enjoy the peace of the country.

“We sold out there and did a big trip around Australia,” he said. “When we got back we were a bit lost. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money so we bought the 10 acres here.”

The couple live with their dog Bud, a koolie cross kelpie, and a few chickens.

“We’ve had chickens since we moved here; I’ve had chickens my entire life,” he said.

About a year ago, Mr Koina started advertising his eggs for sale on a local Facebook page, charging about $4 for a dozen.

In January, he received an email warning him about selling eggs but said he “didn’t think anything of it,” until receiving a call on Wednesday.

Murray Koina, 73, was told he can no longer sell his eggs.

“The phone rings, I answer and she goes, ‘Murray Koina … I’m ringing about you selling eggs’.”

The woman on the phone was from Safe Food Production Queensland, a regulatory body under the Department of Agriculture, who told Mr Koina he could not sell the eggs without a licence.

“I said ‘Are you for real? Can you get a real job?”

Perplexed as to how the “authorities” found out he was selling a few eggs all the way out in regional Queensland, Mr Koina was told somebody had taken a screenshot of a post he had shared on a Kilkivan notice board on Facebook and sent it to SFPQ.

The woman on the phone informed him he needed to get accreditation if he wanted to continue.

“She told me it would cost over $600 and then $400 every year. She said the maximum fine for selling them without it is $200,000.”

After receiving the call he took down the sign out front of his property which advertised his free range eggs and wrote a post on the Kilkivan notice board Facebook page announcing he was no longer selling them.

His announcement shocked and outraged many in the community, particularly the revelation that somebody had complained to the authorities.

One of Murray Koinas chickens in Kilkivan.

Mr Koina’s wife Jackie has been keeping him up to date with the support he has been receiving on Facebook.

“She was sitting there this morning reading it, she said ‘you’ve got 71 responses and they’re all in favour of you,’” he said.

A Safe Food Production Queensland spokesperson confirmed anyone wanting to sell eggs had to have accreditation.

“It’s actually illegal to even supply eggs, so you’re not even allowed to supply eggs to family and friends outside of your property,” the spokesperson said.

She said Mr Koina’s incident was not an isolated case when it came to people making complaints.

“We do get quite a lot of complaints and usually through Facebook.”

She said when they received a complaint they tried to educate the person as to why they were not allowed to sell eggs and how they could become accredited if they wanted to.

“There’s a lot of people out there that genuinely don’t know,” she said.

“Eggs carry a high biosecurity risk and that’s why it’s so regulated.

“The ones that are accredited have to jump through lots of hoops to make sure that the whole system from the eggs laying to them being bought from Woolworths or the fruit shop or wherever is very regulated and very clean,” the spokesperson said.

Mr Koina said his egg selling days were over.
“I’m done with it,” he said.

Originally published as South Burnett retiree Murray Koina told to stop selling eggs