Does Delaware Require a Food Handler Card?

Delaware does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

No individual food-handler-card mandate; Delaware requires only that each permitted establishment have one Certified Food Protection Manager — a manager-level cert, one per establishment.

What it’s called

Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Delaware requires instead

No individual food handler is required to obtain a food handler card in Delaware. The only mandated food-safety credential is the Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM): each permitted food establishment must have a minimum of one employee — the person in charge (PIC) present at the time of inspection — who is a CFPM (effective April 1, 2016). Very-low, low, and medium-risk establishments may qualify for a DPH variance that substitutes a CFPM on staff or DPH-approved food safety training for the other PICs; high-risk establishments are ineligible for a variance.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

EVERY food employee is “exempt” in the only sense that matters: Delaware requires no individual food-handler card of anyone, so no food employee needs one. Searched the State of Delaware Food Code (16 Del. Admin. C. 4458, as amended at 29 DE Reg. 313, eff. Oct. 1, 2025), the FDA 2022 Food Code it adopts by reference, and the DE Division of Public Health Office of Food Protection CFPM pages: no provision mandates an employee food-handler card.

The credential Delaware DOES mandate is the establishment-level Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM). Its exemptions are as follows.

CFPM VARIANCES BY RISK CATEGORY (DE DPH, Office of Food Protection): “Variances from the CFPM requirement are allowed under certain circumstances, based on the risk of causing or contributing to a foodborne illness outbreak.” Establishments DPH categorises as VERY LOW RISK are eligible for a statewide variance from the CFPM requirement. Establishments rated LOW RISK or MEDIUM RISK may request a variance, evaluated case by case. Establishments rated HIGH RISK are ineligible for a variance. Any establishment operating under a variance must still meet one of three minimum training standards: have a CFPM on-site during all hours of operation; or have a CFPM on staff to train the other persons in charge and be available by telephone; or have all persons in charge complete DPH-approved food safety training.

MINIMAL-RISK ESTABLISHMENTS: the person-in-charge section of the adopted code “does not apply to certain types of FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS deemed by the REGULATORY AUTHORITY to pose minimal risk of causing, or contributing to, foodborne illness based on the nature of the operation and extent of the FOOD preparation” (FDA 2022 Food Code sec. 2-101.11(C), adopted unamended by 16 Del. Admin. C. 4458).

OUTSIDE THE DEFINITION OF “FOOD ESTABLISHMENT” — the Food Code does not reach these operations at all. As adopted by Delaware (FDA 2022 Food Code sec. 1-201.10(B), as amended by 16 Del. Admin. C. 4458 sec. 2.1.3.2), “food establishment” does not include: an establishment that offers only prepackaged foods (Delaware BROADENED this exclusion by deleting the FDA’s limiting words “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, with a clearly visible placard stating the kitchen is not regulated or inspected; an area where such food is sold or offered; a kitchen in a private home, such as a small family day-care provider, or a bed-and-breakfast operation that prepares and offers food to guests if the home is owner-occupied, the guest bedrooms do not exceed 6, breakfast is the only meal offered, guests served do not exceed 18, and consumers are informed by advertisements, brochures and registration-area placards that the kitchen is unregulated; a private home that receives catered or home-delivered food; and — added by Delaware — “(h) A private catered event” and “(i) A Cottage Food Establishment.”

COMMONLY ASSUMED EXEMPT BUT NOT: temporary food establishments are NOT excluded — Delaware’s amended definition provides that a temporary food establishment “results in a TFE permit” and prepares food for the public “free or for a cost,” with sanctioned events allowed up to 14 consecutive days and vendors limited to 14 event permits per calendar year (4458 sec. 2.1.3.2). Also note: the widely-repeated claim that Delaware food handlers must get a card “within 30 days of hire,” pass a test at 70%, and pay no more than $15 is CALIFORNIA law (Cal. Health & Safety Code 113948) reproduced on course-seller sites; it appears in no Delaware statute or rule and is not Delaware law.

Where to check

No statewide food handler card exists or is issued by any authority. Food-safety regulation is administered by the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH), Office of Food Protection. The credential Delaware DOES require (Certified Food Protection Manager) is issued by ANSI-CFP-accredited programs such as ServSafe, not by the state.