Ohio doesn't require a food handlers card for every food employee. The Ohio Uniform Food Safety Code sets two other rules. First, a person in charge with the right knowledge is present during all hours of operation, and shows that knowledge at inspection by having no critical violations and answering the inspector's questions correctly. Second, every risk level III and IV food service operation and retail food establishment, the higher-risk licenses, has at least one supervisory employee with manager certification in food protection from a course approved by the director of health. Risk level I and II, temporary, mobile and vending operations are exempt from the manager rule. The state also approves a shorter Ohio Person-in-Charge course for the people who run a shift. In the example below, a Cincinnati breakfast counter checks five people. Below are the rules, the certificates, the example, and a free roster.
The short version
- No food handlers card for every employee in Ohio.
- A person in charge with applicable knowledge is present during all hours of operation.
- At inspection, the person in charge has no critical violations and answers the inspector's questions correctly.
- Risk level III and IV operations have at least one supervisory employee with manager certification in food protection.
- Temporary, mobile, vending, and risk level I and II operations are exempt from the manager rule.
- The director of health approves manager and Ohio Person-in-Charge courses.
- Your local health district licenses and inspects.
- TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track certificates. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What Ohio's code says |
|---|---|
| Food handler card | None for every employee |
| Person in charge | Present during all hours of operation, with applicable knowledge; the license holder or someone designated |
| Showing knowledge | No critical violations during the inspection, and correct answers to the inspector's questions |
| Certified manager | Risk level III and IV: at least one supervisory employee with manager certification in food protection |
| Exempt from the manager rule | Temporary, mobile and vending operations, and risk level I and II |
| Approved courses | Manager certification in food protection, with an exam meeting the Conference for Food Protection's standards; the Ohio Person-in-Charge course |
| Not covered by the person-in-charge rule | Micro markets and vending machine locations |
The rules are Ohio Adm.Code 3717-1-02.4, effective September 5, 2024, and 3701-21-25, effective September 1, 2024. This is general information, not legal advice.
The two certificates
| Certificate | What it covers | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Manager certification in food protection | A comprehensive food safety course and an exam to the Conference for Food Protection's standards | At least one supervisory employee at a risk level III or IV operation |
| Ohio Person-in-Charge | The principles of food safety and what a person in charge has to know at inspection | Not required by the rule; a way to prepare a shift lead |
Your license shows your risk level, which the health district assigns from what you do with the food; cooking, cooling and reheating raise it, and selling only prepackaged food keeps it low. A home kitchen selling under Ohio's cottage food rules is a different path, explained in Ohio cottage food laws.
An example: a breakfast counter
Over-the-Rhine Goetta Kitchen, a made-up breakfast counter in Cincinnati, Ohio, I use in these examples, cooks goetta, eggs and biscuits from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., a risk level III license, and runs a Saturday market booth under a temporary license:
| Person | Role | Certificate or training | Date | Status on October 16, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Certified manager, person in charge mornings | Manager certification in food protection | January 16, 2023 | Current to January 16, 2028 |
| Shift lead | Person in charge, afternoons | Ohio Person-in-Charge course | April 7, 2025 | On file |
| Cook | Food employee | Employer training | September 9, 2024 | On file |
| Cook, new | Food employee | None | None on file | |
| Market booth helper | Temporary booth, Saturdays | Employer training | June 6, 2026 | On file |
The owner's certification covers the manager rule. The shift lead runs the afternoons as person in charge, so they took the Person-in-Charge course to answer an inspector's questions with confidence. The new cook is trained by the owner before cooking alone. How the goetta's cooling is logged is in temperature log template, and a cleaning program in sanitation SOP template.
Get the roster
Download the Ohio 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
A person in charge has to be there every hour the doors are open, and each one has to answer an inspector's questions on the day. A list of certificates doesn't show who's in charge on Thursday afternoon.
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 goetta'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 of goetta gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and first-expired-first-out is the default, so the oldest loaves are sliced 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 goetta to slice 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.