An Island egg farmer was taken aback Thursday morning when her donation to a food bank was turned away.

Sally Bernard, who owns Barnyard Organics in Freetown, P.E.I., said her eggs weren't accepted at the Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown because they weren't graded.

This surprised Bernard, because she had donated eggs before without issue.

"We knew that we couldn't sell them to stores, and we couldn't sell them to restaurants but this time last year we had no problem donating them," said Bernard.

Bernard thinks provincial rules were the reason the eggs weren't accepted, although she's still disappointed she couldn't donate the eggs.

"I couldn't blame the food bank. I understood they were just abiding by the rules. But it was certainly [disappointing and frustrating]," said Bernard.

Bernard is the unelected agriculture critic in the shadow cabinet of the P.E.I. Green Party, but said in this instance she was speaking as a farmer and not for the party.

She said, after taking to Facebook, she found many other outlets that could take her eggs in the future and one that would take Thursday's eggs.

An Upper Room Food Bank representative told CBC News they couldn't comment on the matter as it falls under provincial jurisdiction.