In New Mexico, food employees pass a test from an accredited food handler training program, one meeting ANSI/ASTM E2659-09, and carry a food handler card. Someone hired without one gets it within 30 calendar days, and until then the business trains them in safe food handling before they handle food, keeping a record of who trained whom and when. Cards are valid for 3 years, kept on the employee or on file at work. The rule, in the state's food service regulations, 7.6.2 NMAC, doesn't apply to the certified food protection manager, to people who don't handle food that needs time or temperature control, to occasional helpers, or to temporary booths, though those still get the business's training. Every food establishment also has at least one certified food protection manager. Albuquerque runs its own program under its own ordinance. In the example below, a Las Cruces burrito shop checks six people. Below are the rules, the exemptions, the example, and a free roster.
The short version
- Food employees pass an accredited food handler test and hold a valid card.
- Hired without one: get it within 30 calendar days.
- Until then, the business trains them before they handle food, and keeps a record of it.
- Cards are valid for 3 years, kept on the person or on file at work.
- Not covered: the certified manager, staff who don't handle TCS food, occasional helpers, temporary booths.
- At least one certified food protection manager per food establishment, booths and trucks included.
- Inside Albuquerque, the city's own Food Service and Retail Ordinance applies.
- TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track cards. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What 7.6.2.8 NMAC says |
|---|---|
| Who | Food employees, except those exempted below |
| The course | A food handler training program accredited to ANSI/ASTM E2659-09 |
| When | Within 30 calendar days from the beginning of employment, for someone without a card |
| Before then | Training by the business on safe food handling before food handling duties, with a record kept on file |
| Valid | 3 years from issue |
| Where | On the employee while working, or a copy on file with the current employer |
| Instead of a card | The regulatory authority can approve an employer's own training, repeated at least every 3 years and valid only while working there |
| The manager | At least one certified food protection manager per food establishment, temporary and mobile ones included, unless the place is minimal risk |
The rule is section 2-104.11, added by Subsection D of 7.6.2.8 NMAC; the manager rule is section 2-102.12 in Subsection B. This is general information, not legal advice.
The exemptions
| Not covered by the card rule | What's still required |
|---|---|
| The certified food protection manager | The manager certification |
| Staff who don't prepare or handle TCS food | The business's training, with a record |
| Employees or volunteers who occasionally work as food employees | The business's training, with a record |
| Temporary food establishments | A person in charge with a manager certification or a card before the permit, and training for the rest |
| Charities serving the needy | A certified manager as person in charge |
| Employees who don't work with food | Nothing |
TCS food is food that needs time or temperature control for safety, such as cooked eggs, meat, beans and cut melon; how to tell is in TCS foods list.
Albuquerque is different
The City of Albuquerque passed its own Food Service and Retail Ordinance on May 6, 2024, with the 2022 FDA Food Code, and its Environmental Health Department permits and inspects inside the city, as its food safety page explains. A business there checks the city's rules. A home kitchen under the Homemade Food Act is outside both, as New Mexico cottage food law explains.
An example: a burrito shop
Mesilla Burrito Co., a made-up breakfast burrito shop in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I use in these examples, opens at 6 a.m. and ran a booth at a September fiesta:
| Person | Covered? | Hired | Card | Status on October 16, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | No: certified food protection manager | Not needed | ||
| Cook | Yes | February 6, 2023 | February 20, 2023 | Expired February 20, 2026 |
| Prep cook | Yes | June 2, 2025 | June 12, 2025 | Current to June 12, 2028 |
| Cook, new | Yes | October 1, 2026 | Due by October 31 | |
| Cashier, packaged drinks only | No: no TCS food; trained before starting | April 6, 2026 | Not needed | |
| Fiesta booth volunteer | No: temporary booth; trained before it | September 26, 2026 | Not needed |
The cook's card ran out in February, three years after it was issued. The new cook was trained by the owner on the first morning, with the date and names written on the training record, and takes the course online before October 31. How a kitchen logs its temperatures is in temperature log template, and how a food truck's numbers work in food truck business plan.
Get the roster
Download the New Mexico food handler 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
Cards expire three years after their own dates, a new hire needs a training record before the first shift and a card within 30 days, and an inspector can ask for both. A shop with early shifts also has to know who's the certified manager on each one.
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 a batch of red chile'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 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 chile is used first.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who signed off a batch | Initials on paper | A sign-off on the batch record |
| What a new cook can see | Everything on the shared login | A role limited to their work |
| Which chile to use first | Remembered | First-expired-first-out |
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.