Arkansas does not require an individual statewide food handler card.
Statewide, only a Certified Food Protection Manager is required — one per establishment; no individual food-handler card mandate.
What it’s called
Arkansas requires no individual food handler card. Statewide, the food-safety duty falls on the establishment instead — it must have a Certified Food Protection Manager. “Food handler license,” “food handlers permit,” “food safety certificate” and “food handler card” are common searches, but Arkansas issues no such individual credential. The credential many searchers have in mind — the food-MANAGER certification (a Certified Food Protection Manager, often earned through ServSafe Manager) — is a separate, establishment-level qualification, not an individual handler card.
What Arkansas requires instead
No Arkansas food employee is required by state law to obtain a food handler card. The only statewide food-safety credential mandate is that each retail food establishment have at least one Certified Food Protection Manager — a supervisory/management employee who passes a test that is part of an accredited program (Rules Pertaining to Retail Food Establishments §2-102.11). This is the one-per-establishment MANAGER certification, not an employee handler card.
Who does NOT need this — exemptions
NONE — and there is nothing to be exempt from. Arkansas imposes no individual food-handler-card duty on any food employee, so no exemption from such a card exists or could exist.
TIERS SEARCHED: (1) the statute — Ark. Code Ann. Title 20, ch. 57 (as cross-referenced in the rules for the bake-sale and Food Freedom Act exclusions); (2) the administrative rule — the Arkansas State Board of Health “Rules Pertaining to Retail Food Establishments” in full (173 pp.), where the term “food handler” appears zero times; (3) the agency FAQ — the Arkansas Department of Health Food Protection FAQ, which is silent on any employee handler card. No provision requiring an employee food-handler card was found at any tier, and therefore no exemption from one is stated anywhere.
WHAT IS EXCLUDED FROM THE FOOD RULES ENTIRELY (so no state food-safety credential duty attaches at all): “Retail Food Establishment” (Rules §1-201.10(B)(xcix)(3)) “does not include”: an establishment that offers only prepackaged foods that are not time/temperature control for safety foods; a produce stand that only offers whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables; a food processing plant; a kitchen in a private home if only non-TCS food is prepared for sale or service at a function such as a religious or charitable organization’s bake sale (Ark. Code Ann. §§20-57-201, 20-57-506); a kitchen in a private home preparing only non-TCS food under the Food Freedom Act (Ark. Code Ann. §20-57-504); an area where such home-prepared food is sold or offered; a kitchen in a private home such as a small family day-care provider, or a bed-and-breakfast that is owner-occupied with no more than 6 guest bedrooms serving breakfast only to no more than 10 guests with the required uninspected-kitchen notice; and a private home that receives catered or home-delivered food.
EXEMPTIONS FROM THE ONLY CREDENTIAL ARKANSAS DOES REQUIRE (the Certified Food Protection Manager — one per establishment, NOT a handler card): §2-102.11(B) states the manager requirement “does not apply to certain types of RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS deemed by the REGULATORY AUTHORITY to pose minimal risk …”, including retail food establishments that only provide commercially prepackaged foods, and retail food establishments providing only low-risk non-time/temperature-control-for-safety foods that are approved by the regulatory authority.
Source: Arkansas State Board of Health, Rules Pertaining to Retail Food Establishments (official ADH rule PDF); Arkansas Department of Health Food Protection FAQ.