Does Colorado Require a Food Handler Card?

Colorado does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

Statewide, Colorado mandates only a Certified Food Protection Manager — a per-establishment MANAGER credential — not an individual employee food handler card.

What it’s called

Colorado 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 Colorado 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 Colorado requires instead

No individual food handler is required to hold a card under Colorado state law. Statewide, the only mandated food-safety credential is the Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM): beginning March 1, 2025 the on-duty person-in-charge must be a CFPM at most retail food establishments during hours of operation (with exceptions for low-risk/limited food prep). That is a separate manager certification (one per establishment), NOT an employee handler card.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

NONE — and there is nothing to be exempt from. Colorado imposes no individual food-handler-card duty on any food worker, so no exemption from such a card exists or could exist.

TIERS SEARCHED: (1) the statute — the Colorado Food Protection Act, C.R.S. title 25, art. 4, part 16 (including the §25-4-1602 definitions); (2) the administrative rule — the Colorado Retail Food Establishment Regulations, 6 CCR 1010-2 (adopted by the Board of Health Jan. 17, 2024; effective Mar. 16, 2024), together with the FDA 2022 Food Code it incorporates by reference; and (3) the agency guidance — CDPHE’s Certified Food Protection Manager guidance (updated 3/1/25) and its retail-food resources pages. No employee handler-card requirement appears at any tier, and therefore no exemption from one is stated anywhere.

EXCLUDED FROM THE FOOD RULES ENTIRELY — 6 CCR 1010-2 §2.2(C) states: “This regulation does not apply to facilities or conditions listed in Section 25-4-1602(14)(a)-(m), C.R.S.” That statutory list removes from “retail food establishment”: (a) any private home; (b) private boarding houses; (c) hospital and health facility patient feeding operations licensed by the department; (d) child care centers and other child care facilities licensed by the department of human services; (e) hunting camps and other outdoor recreation locations where food is prepared in the field rather than at a fixed base of operation; (f) food or beverage wholesale manufacturing, processing, or packaging plants subject to other state or federal regulatory control; (g) motor vehicles used only for the transport of food; (h) establishments preparing and serving only hot coffee, hot tea, instant hot beverages, and non-potentially-hazardous doughnuts or pastries from complying sources; (i) establishments that handle only non-potentially-hazardous prepackaged food, and operations serving only commercially prepared, prepackaged foods requiring no preparation other than heating within the original container; (j) farmers markets and roadside markets that offer only uncut fresh fruit and vegetables; (k) automated food merchandising (vending) enterprises supplying only prepackaged non-potentially-hazardous food or drink in bottles, cans or cartons, and gum or salted-nut dispensers; (l) the donation, preparation, sale, or service of food by a nonprofit or charitable organization in conjunction with an event or celebration, if it does not exceed the event’s duration or a maximum of 52 days within a calendar year and takes place in the county where the organization resides or is principally located; and (m) a home, commercial, private, or public kitchen producing food sold directly to consumers under the Colorado Cottage Foods Act (C.R.S. §25-4-1614).

EXEMPTIONS FROM THE ONLY CREDENTIAL COLORADO DOES REQUIRE (the Certified Food Protection Manager — the on-duty person-in-charge, beginning March 1, 2025; NOT a handler card): CDPHE’s official CFPM guidance states the exceptions “include but are not limited to” facilities with limited food preparation or grocery stores with no food service operations; some operating times with minimal or no food preparation; a bartender or barista making drinks before or after the kitchen opens or closes; satellite facilities that only hold and serve food from a central kitchen, such as schools; and low-risk food preparation outside of prime operating hours where the facility can actively manage food safety activities.

Sources: C.R.S. §25-4-1602(14)(a)-(m) (Colorado General Assembly); 6 CCR 1010-2 (Colorado Secretary of State); CDPHE Certified Food Protection Manager guidance.

Local requirements

None verified statewide. Colorado has no state handler-card law; individual counties/cities or employers may impose their own food-handler training — users should confirm with their local health department. No specific current county food-HANDLER-CARD mandate was confirmed from an official source.

Where to check

None for a food handler card — Colorado issues/ mandates no statewide employee handler card. Retail food safety is regulated by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability, under 6 CCR 1010-2.