In California, anyone who prepares, stores or serves food in a food facility that sells to the public needs a food handler card within 30 days of being hired, under Health and Safety Code 113948. The card comes from an ANSI-accredited training provider after a course of about two and a half hours and a test of at least 40 questions, passed at 70%. It's valid for 3 years and goes with you to a new employer. At least one course must cost $15 or less, and since 2024 the employer pays: for the course, and for the time it takes, as hours worked. Not everyone needs one: someone with a food protection manager certificate doesn't, nor do staff at grocery stores, certified farmers' markets, commissaries, school cafeterias or temporary event booths, and a food processing plant isn't a food facility at all. In the example below, a Sacramento bakery café checks six people. Below are the rules, who's exempt, the example, and a free roster.
The short version
- A food handler card within 30 days of hire, for anyone who prepares, stores or serves food in a food facility.
- From an ANSI-accredited provider: a course of about 2.5 hours, a test of 40 or more questions, 70% to pass.
- Valid 3 years, statewide, and it moves with you between employers.
- At least one course costs $15 or less, card included.
- The employer pays for the course and for the time, and can't require a card before hiring.
- Exempt: food protection manager certificate holders, temporary food facilities, grocery stores and several others.
- Commercial food processing plants and registered cottage food operations aren't food facilities, so the rule doesn't reach them.
- The facility keeps a record that each food handler holds a valid card.
- TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track cards. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What the Health and Safety Code says |
|---|---|
| Who | A food handler: an individual involved in the preparation, storage or service of food in a food facility that sells to the public |
| When | Within 30 days after the date of hire |
| From | An ANSI-accredited training provider meeting ASTM E2659-09 |
| The course | About 2.5 hours, including allergen handling; an exam of at least 40 questions, 70% to pass |
| Valid | 3 years from issue, whichever employer you work for |
| Where | Recognized statewide, except where a local food handler program took effect before January 1, 2009 |
| Cost | At least one course and exam at $15 or less, card included |
| The employer | Pays for training time as hours worked and for the course; relieves you of other duties during it |
| Hiring | An employer can't make an existing card a condition of employment |
| Records | The food facility keeps records that each food handler holds a valid card |
The rule is Health and Safety Code 113948, last amended by SB 476 from January 1, 2024. "Food handler" is defined in 113790, and "food facility" in 113789. This is general information, not legal advice.
Who doesn't need one
| Not needed | Why |
|---|---|
| Someone with a food protection manager certificate | Excluded from "food handler" |
| Staff at a temporary food facility, such as an event booth | Excluded from "food handler" |
| Certified farmers' markets, commissaries, mobile support units | Exempt employers |
| Grocery and convenience stores | Exempt, except separately owned food businesses inside them |
| School cafeterias, licensed health care, restricted food service | Exempt employers |
| A facility with qualifying in-house training, or a collective bargaining agreement | Exempt employers |
| A commercial food processing establishment | Not a food facility |
| A registered cottage food operation | Not a food facility |
If you make packaged food in a processing plant, the card law doesn't apply there; a café or bakery counter you run does. How California's cottage food rules work is in California cottage food law.
An example: a Sacramento bakery café
Arden Oak Bakehouse, a made-up bakery café in Sacramento, California, I use in these examples, has a counter, a small kitchen and a booth at a weekend festival:
| Person | Covered? | Hired | Card issued | Status on October 16, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | No: holds a food protection manager certificate | Not needed | ||
| Baker | Yes | March 3, 2025 | March 20, 2025 | Current to March 20, 2028 |
| Baker, new | Yes | September 28, 2026 | Due by October 28 | |
| Barista | Yes | June 12, 2023 | June 30, 2023 | Expired June 30, 2026 |
| Cashier | Yes | November 4, 2024 | November 18, 2024 | Current |
| Weekend helper, event booth only | No: temporary food facility | Not needed |
The barista's card ran out in June. Arden Oak paid for a $15 course and the barista's time to take it during a shift, and booked the new baker's course in the first month. What a bakery's costs look like is in bakery business plan, and how a kitchen's temperatures are logged in temperature log template.
Get the roster
Download the California food handler card roster. One sheet: each person, whether the rule covers them, the hire date and card date; the 30-day due date, the 3-year expiry and the status fill in, red when overdue or expired. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Every card expires three years after its own date, new people start the 30 days on their first day, and an inspector can ask for the records at any visit. A folder of printed cards doesn't show who's due next month.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack doesn't track food handler cards. It keeps the production records an inspector reads alongside them.
Batch records with sign-off. Printable batch-record forms carry your own checklist fields and a sign-off, so the cooling check on a batch of pastry cream, and who did it, is on the record.
People by role. Each person has a role, such as production, limited to the sites they work at, so a new baker sees the recipes, not the costs.
Lots and expiry. Each batch gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and one recall report shows which customers got it.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who signed off a batch | Initials on paper | A sign-off on the batch record |
| What a new hire can see | Everything on the shared login | A role limited to their work |
| Where a batch went | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches and recipes are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.