Georgia Food Handlers Card: Not Required; the Manager Rule

Georgia doesn't require a food handlers card for restaurant employees. Its Food Service Rules, 511-6-1, put the weight on one person instead: every food service establishment employs a Certified Food Safety Manager (CFSM), an employee with authority over food preparation who passed an accredited exam. That manager is the person in charge while on site, and is responsible for making sure every employee who handles unpackaged food knows enough to do it safely, by offering a training program and instructing staff. The original certificate is posted where customers can see it; a manager who leaves is replaced within 60 days, and the county health department is told within 30. Mobile units that don't process food, places with limited non-TCS food, and temporary events don't need a CFSM. An employer can still ask staff to take a food handler course. In the example below, an Augusta biscuit restaurant checks six people. Below are the rules, the training duty, the example, and a free roster.

The short version

• No state food handlers card in Georgia.
• Every food service establishment employs at least one Certified Food Safety Manager.
• The CFSM passed an accredited exam and has authority over food preparation and service.
• The CFSM is the person in charge on site, and names someone else when away.
• The CFSM offers a training program so every employee who handles unpackaged food knows their part.
• Post the original certificate in public view; keep a copy on file.
• Replace a departed CFSM within 60 days; tell the health department within 30.
• A CFSM is designated to one establishment only, and renews when the exam's certificate expires.
• TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track certificates. More below.

The rules

The rules are 511-6-1 of the Rules of the Georgia Department of Public Health; your county health department permits and inspects. This is general information, not legal advice.

The training duty

The CFSM is responsible for the safety of food preparation and service by making sure that every employee who handles unpackaged food has enough knowledge for their duties. The rule tells the CFSM to supervise and instruct staff in sanitary food handling, offer a training program for all food service employees, talk with the health department about how well it works, and ask for formal training where it's needed. The knowledge can be tailored to each job: the cashier who hands out biscuits needs handwashing and no bare hands on food, not cooling curves. A written record of who was trained and when shows the inspector the program exists. How a kitchen keeps its temperature records is in temperature log template, and a cleaning program in sanitation SOP template.

An example: a biscuit restaurant

Broad Street Biscuits, a made-up biscuit restaurant in Augusta, Georgia, I use in these examples, opens at 6 a.m.:

The kitchen manager's certificate runs out in November, so they're booked into a course and the exam now; renewal is tied to that date, and an expired certificate can't stay on the wall. The cashier's lapsed food handler course isn't a violation, because Georgia doesn't require one; the restaurant's own training covers them. The owner's certificate means the restaurant isn't left without a manager if the kitchen manager leaves. How a home kitchen sells in Georgia instead is in Georgia cottage food laws.

Get the roster

Download the Georgia food safety roster. One sheet: each person, their role, the certificate or training they hold and the date; the expiry, 5 years for the manager certificate and 3 for a food handler course, and the status fill in, red when expired, with a count of current certified managers. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The manager certificate expires on its own date, staff turn over, and the training program has to reach every new hire who touches unpackaged food. A wall certificate doesn't show who was trained last week.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack doesn't track food safety certificates. 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 a batch of sausage gravy's cooling check, 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 cook sees what they need, not costs.

Lots and expiry. Each batch gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and first-expired-first-out is the default, so yesterday's biscuit dough is used first.

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.

Questions people also ask

Does Georgia require a food handlers card?

No. Georgia's Food Service Rules require a Certified Food Safety Manager at each food service establishment, who makes sure employees are trained, but no card for each employee.

How do I become a certified food safety manager in Georgia?

Pass an accredited food protection manager exam, and renew when the certificate expires, within 90 days of the expiry.

How long does a restaurant have to replace its CFSM?

Sixty days, with the county health department told within 30 days of the departure.

Can my employer require a food handlers card in Georgia?

Yes. The state doesn't require one, but an employer can ask for a food handler course as part of its training program.