Washington calls it a food worker card, and every food service worker needs one within 14 calendar days of starting at a food service establishment, under WAC 246-217. You pass an exam given by your local health department or its designee, answering at least 80% correctly, and pay $10. The first card lasts 2 years; a renewal lasts 3 years, or 5 years if you've had additional food safety training in the past 2 years, and you can renew up to 60 days early. A card from any county is good statewide. Until a new worker has the card, the employer gives them safe food handling information first and keeps a note that it did. Commercial food processing plants licensed by USDA, FDA or the state Department of Agriculture aren't food service establishments, so the rule doesn't reach them. In the example below, a bakery café checks five people. Below are the rules, the example, and a free roster.
The short version
- Every food service worker gets a food worker card within 14 calendar days of starting.
- "Food service worker" includes unpaid help: anyone who handles unwrapped food, or could spread illness through food or equipment.
- An exam from the local health department or its designee, 80% to pass, and a $10 fee.
- First card: 2 years. Renewals: 3 years, or 5 with additional food safety training in the past 2 years.
- Renew up to 60 days before the card expires.
- Valid anywhere in Washington.
- Before a worker has a card, the employer gives safe food handling information and documents it.
- At a temporary event, at least the person in charge each shift needs a card, before the event.
- Employers keep copies of the cards on file, or workers carry them.
- TaroStack keeps the batch records and sign-offs an inspector reads; it doesn't track cards. More below.
The rules
| Rule | What WAC 246-217 says |
|---|---|
| Who | Food service workers: anyone working, with or without pay, who handles unwrapped or unpackaged food or could spread illness through food, equipment or facilities |
| When | Within 14 calendar days from the beginning of employment |
| The exam | Given by the local health officer or designee; at least 80% correct |
| Fee | $10 |
| Initial card | Valid 2 years |
| Renewal | Valid 3 years, or 5 years with additional food safety training in the past 2 years |
| Renewing | Up to 60 days before expiry, showing the current card |
| Where | Valid throughout Washington |
| Before the card | The employer provides safe food handling information or training and keeps documentation on file |
| Temporary events | At least the operator or person in charge each shift holds a card obtained before the event |
| Records | Copies of all food service workers' cards on file, or carried by each worker |
| Limited duty card | Issued without a written exam for specific approved tasks, same fee and validity |
The rules are WAC 246-217, under RCW 69.06. This is general information, not legal advice.
Where the rule doesn't reach
A food service establishment is a place where food is prepared, served or sold to the consumer: restaurants, retail bakeries, delis, caterers, food trucks, temporary events and more. It doesn't include private homes, places offering only commercially prepackaged foods that aren't potentially hazardous, commercial food processing establishments licensed by USDA, FDA or the Washington State Department of Agriculture, or farmers exempt from licensing. So a packaged-food plant under a WSDA processor license is outside the card rule, while a café counter is inside it. How Washington's home kitchen rules work is in Washington cottage food laws.
An example: a bakery café
Skagit Flats Bakery Café, a made-up café in Mount Vernon, Washington, I use in these examples, has five people:
| Person | Card | Issued | Expires | Status on October 16, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Renewal with additional training (5 years) | May 10, 2023 | May 10, 2028 | Current |
| Baker | Initial (2 years) | August 26, 2024 | August 26, 2026 | Expired |
| Barista | Renewal (3 years) | June 1, 2024 | June 1, 2027 | Current |
| Barista, new | Not yet; started October 9 | Due by October 23 | ||
| Bookkeeper | Doesn't handle food | Not needed |
The baker's first card lasted only two years, and the renewal window opened in June without anyone noticing. The baker renewed the same week, for three years this time. The new barista got the café's written food safety basics on day one, signed for, while booking the exam. What a bakery's costs look like is in bakery business plan, and how a kitchen logs temperatures in temperature log template.
Get the roster
Download the Washington food worker card roster. One sheet: each person, whether they handle unwrapped food, when they started, their card and when it was issued; the due date 14 days after starting, the expiry, the date renewal opens 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
Three card lengths, 14 days for every new hire, and a renewal window that opens 60 days early: a stack of cards in a drawer doesn't show any of it.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack doesn't track food worker 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 quiche'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 barista 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.