Who needs a food handlers' certificate?
December 2, 2024
Paid employees in a restaurant/mobile food facility and are involved in the preparation, storage, or service of food, need a California food handler card.
Food handlers must obtain a California food handler card within 30 days after being hired by a food facility.
Individuals working in food facilities who are involved in preparing, storing, or handling food are required to obtain a California Food Handler Card. This includes food employees who work in the following environments: restaurants, cafes, bakeries, delis, mobile food facilities, bars and kiosks.
Examples of food facility staff that are required to obtain a California Food Handler Card include:
- Wait staff
- Chefs
- Cooks
- Bartenders
- Host/hostesses that handle food
- Bussers
- Supervisors and managers
- Food warehouse staff
There are a variety of exemptions, where a food handler card is NOT required:
- Food handlers holding a current and valid food safety certification
- Grocery stores, including convenience stores
- Public and private school cafeterias
- Temporary food facilities
- Certified Farmers Markets
- Commissaries
- Retail stores where a majority of sales are from a pharmacy
- Detention facilities run by government agencies
- An elderly nutrition program, administered by the California Department of Aging, pursuant to the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 3001 et seq.)
- Certain food facilities with approved in-house food safety training
- Licenses health care facilities
- Food facilities subject to a collective bargaining agreement
- Bed and breakfast or agricultural homestay facilities
- Venues with snack bar services in which the majority of sales are from admission tickets (excluding any area in which restaurant-style sit-down service is provided).
Learn more about how to get a California Food Handler Card and employer responsibility
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