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Do I need a food handlers card in Florida?

If you handle food for the public at a public food service establishment, you must be certified within 60 days after you start. Florida law sets the rule. Your employer has to train you. A provider gives your employer a certificate and gives you a card. A workplace can skip them if its own staff teach its own state approved program.

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The rule, fact by fact

Cost
The state may set a per employee fee by ruleThe law lets the state set a fee for each employee. It names no price.
Verified. Florida Statutes (2026) · Section 509.049, Food service employee training (opens state website) · checked Nov 13, 2026
Valid for
You stay certified for 3 yearsThat is the law's rule for how long you stay certified.
Same source and date as above
Who needs it
The employer must provide training to all of its food service employeesThe law puts the duty to train on the employer.
Same source and date as above
Deadline after hire
Be certified within 60 days after you start workThe law sets this deadline after you start work.
Same source and date as above

How to get it done

  1. Step 1. Check that your workplace is covered. The rule sits in Chapter 509 of the Florida Statutes, which covers lodging and food service establishments and membership campgrounds. It applies to public food service establishments. You can read the law at Florida Statutes, food service employee training.

  2. Step 2. Check that your job is covered. The law applies to food service employees who store, prepare, display or serve food to the public in those places. If your job is different, ask your employer whether the training applies to you.

  3. Step 3. Ask whether your workplace has its own training program. A workplace may use an in-house program that the state approved, if its own employees teach it. That workplace is exempt from the rule that providers issue a certificate and a card. If that is your workplace, you may get no card, but your employer still has the duty to train you.

  4. Step 4. Ask your employer which course to take. The state's minimum standards call for a food safety training certificate program, run by a private nonprofit provider that the state chooses.

  5. Step 5. If your workplace has no approved in-house program, finish the training with a third-party provider. The provider gives your employer an original certificate for each employee it certifies. It gives you an original card. When the state asks, you must produce your card in its original form, and your employer must produce the certificate.

  6. Step 6. Know what your employer keeps. Employers must give the state proof of their employees' training when it asks, including at an inspection. The proof shows your name, your date of birth, the date you trained and the training program used.

  7. Step 7. Know the risk to your employer. The state can fine a public food service establishment up to $1,000 if it can't show proof of training when asked.

Before you pay

Ask your employer first. The law puts the duty to train on the employer, so find out who pays before you spend your own money.

Ask whether your workplace has its own in-house program. If the state approved it and its own employees teach it, you may get no card.

Ask what the course costs. The law lets the state set a fee for each employee but names no amount, and we haven't confirmed a price.

Ask how you will get your card. The law says a third-party provider issues an original card to each employee it certifies, and a certificate to the employer.

Keep your card. You must produce it in its original form when the state asks.

Questions

Which businesses must provide food worker training?

Public food service establishments licensed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. That is what the Florida Department of Health's FAQ says.

Who has to train me at work?

The law puts the duty to train on your employer. It says the employer may name any certified food service manager to do the training.

Do I have to pass an exam to get the card?

The law says the state's minimum standards for this training shall not include an examination.

Is the food handlers card a license?

This section of the law doesn't call it a license.

What to do next

Start with the law itself, Florida Statutes, food service employee training. Then ask your employer which course it uses and whether it runs its own program.

www.flsenate.gov

Sources we read