With the passage of New Hampshire House Bill (HB) 779 FN this past spring, the sale of uninspected, processed whole rabbits in New Hampshire has been expanded to farms, farm stands, and farmers markets. As of July 29, 2025, unlicensed producers who raise meat rabbits are allowed to sell up to 1,000 uninspected, processed whole rabbits through their own farm, farmstand, or farmers market booth. The 1,000-rabbit limit is in addition to the 1,000 whole rabbits that can already be sold to restaurants. For example, Farm A can sell1,000 whole rabbits through their farm stand and 1,000 whole rabbits to Restaurant B in one calendar year.
The ruling expanded the regulations found in RSA 143-A:14-17 and He-P 2313.01 – the New Hampshire Rules for Sanitary Production and Distribution of Food. These regulations already allow New Hampshire poultry and rabbit producers to sell up to 20,000 uninspected, processed whole poultry and 1,000 uninspected, processed whole rabbits to licensed New Hampshire restaurants. This unique program is only for licensed restaurants and does not include other licensed food establishments such as schools and nursing homes.
To sell uninspected, processed whole rabbits from your own farm, farmstand or farmers market booth, the following conditions must be met:
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The rabbits are raised, slaughtered, processed, packaged, and sold within the state of New Hampshire.
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The producer has fulfilled all educational requirements that are established by the state of New Hampshire commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services in consultation with the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food relative to proper methods of slaughtering, processing, packaging, and storing rabbit on the farm and its subsequent transport to farmstands or farmers markets; and,
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The producer has registered with the state of New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food by providing their name, the name of the farm, address, and phone number.
The program is overseen by New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, Food Protection, with education provided by UNH Extension and permitting handled by the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food (NH DAMF). Keep in mind that there are 15 self-inspecting communities in NH. Producers in those jurisdictions need to contact their local authority directly for any possible additional requirements on raising and/or selling whole rabbits to consumers and restaurants.
Rabbit producers who want to participate in this program must complete one of the Food Safety for Poultry and Rabbit Producers education courses offered by UNH Cooperative Extension. Producers must attend this course every five years to renew their course completion certificate. The class covers the regulations regarding the selling of uninspected poultry and rabbits, safe processing of healthy poultry and rabbits, sanitary facilities and equipment, cleaning and sanitation, temperature control and storage, personal hygiene, recordkeeping, and steps to certification. This class is good for both selling to restaurants and from farms, farmstands, and farmers markets.
For More Information
Contact Ann Hamilton, Extension Food Safety Field Specialist at Ann.hamilton@unh.edu or (603) 447-3834. You can also contact Katrina Klobucher, Extension Livestock Production Field Specialist at Katrina.klobucher@unh.edu or (603) 617-2677 about the new rules and/or raising healthy rabbits.
