Illinois doesn't issue a food handler card. It requires training: every food handler at a restaurant, other than someone with a food service sanitation manager certificate, completes ANSI-accredited training in safe food handling within 30 days of being hired and every 3 years after that, under 410 ILCS 625/3.06. A restaurant here is a business where at least 51% of sales, not counting liquor, are ready-to-eat food for immediate consumption. Food handlers elsewhere, at a bakery that sells mostly to take home or a food plant, get approved training within 30 days under section 3.05. ANSI training moves with you to a new employer; at least one approved course must cost $15 or less; and no city or county can add its own rule. In the example below, a Rockford donut shop checks five people. Below are the rules, which section applies, the example, and a free roster.
The short version
- Restaurant food handlers: ANSI-accredited training within 30 days of employment, then every 3 years.
- A restaurant: at least 51% of sales, excluding liquor, from ready-to-eat food for immediate consumption.
- Other food handlers: approved training within 30 days, under section 3.05.
- Nursing homes, hospitals, schools, early care and long-term care: renew every 3 years.
- Food service sanitation manager certificate holders don't need it.
- At least one approved course costs $15 or less per employee.
- ANSI training transfers between employers; internal programs don't.
- Proof of training is available to an inspector on request, and can be electronic.
- Food handler training is the state's alone; local rules are prohibited.
- TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track training. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What 410 ILCS 625 says |
|---|---|
| Restaurants | All food handlers, except food service sanitation manager certificate holders: ANSI-accredited training within 30 days after employment and every 3 years thereafter |
| Restaurant | A business with at least 51% of sales, excluding liquor, from ready-to-eat food for immediate consumption |
| Other food handlers | Training covering time and temperature, hygiene, contamination, cleaning and sanitizing, within 30 days after employment |
| Health care and schools | Food handlers in nursing homes, early care and education, hospitals, schools and long-term care renew every 3 years |
| Transfers | ANSI-accredited and approved local programs transfer between employers; internal programs don't |
| Proof | Available on reasonable request by a state or local inspector, electronically if you like |
| Cost | At least one approved module at $15 or less per employee, or the restaurant section doesn't apply |
| Local rules | Food handler training is an exclusive state function |
The restaurant rule is 410 ILCS 625/3.06, most recently amended by P.A. 104-480 from July 1, 2026, and the rule for everyone else is 3.05. The Department of Public Health's food handler page adds that establishments should keep copies of training records for inspections. This is general information, not legal advice.
Which section applies
The line is the 51%. A donut and coffee shop where most sales are eaten now is a restaurant: ANSI training, renewed every 3 years. A bakery that mostly sells whole cakes and loaves to take home, a caterer's prep kitchen or a packaged food plant is likely under section 3.05: training within 30 days, from an ANSI program or an internal program the Department approves. How Illinois's home kitchen rules work is in Illinois cottage food law.
An example: a donut shop
Rock River Donut Shop, a made-up donut and coffee shop in Rockford, Illinois, I use in these examples, sells most of its donuts and coffee to be eaten right away, so it's a restaurant under the law:
| Person | Covered? | Hired | Trained | Status on October 16, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | No: food service sanitation manager certificate | Not needed | ||
| Donut maker | Yes | April 17, 2023 | May 2, 2023 | Renewal overdue since May 2, 2026 |
| Barista | Yes | August 26, 2024 | September 10, 2024 | Current to September 10, 2027 |
| Counter | Yes | October 20, 2025 | November 3, 2025 | Current |
| Counter, new | Yes | October 2, 2026 | Due by November 1 |
The donut maker's three years came round in May. The shop paid for a $15 ANSI course the same week, kept the new certificate as a PDF, and listed every renewal date in one sheet. What a donut shop earns is in is a donut business profitable, and how a kitchen logs temperatures in temperature log template.
Get the roster
Download the Illinois food handler training roster. One sheet: each person, whether the rule covers them, the hire date and training date; the 30-day due date, the 3-year renewal date 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 certificate renews three years from its own date, new hires start their 30 days on day one, and an inspector can ask for proof at any visit. A folder of PDFs doesn't say who's due.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack doesn't track food handler training. It keeps the production records an inspector reads alongside it.
Batch records with sign-off. Printable batch-record forms carry your own checklist fields and a sign-off, so a batch of custard filling'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 the new counter hire sees orders, not 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.