Does Indiana Require a Food Handler Card?

Indiana does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

No employee food handler card; state instead requires one Certified Food Protection Manager per non-exempt establishment.

What it’s called

Indiana 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 Indiana 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.

ServSafe is a private training program, not a government credential — see is ServSafe required in your state for what it is and how the handler card differs from the manager certification.

What Indiana requires instead

No individual employee is required by Indiana law to hold a food handler card. Instead, each non-exempt retail food establishment must have at least one Certified Food Protection Manager — a manager-level certificate that must be renewed every five years. Ind. Code 16-42-5.2-3.7 defines it as a certificate that “verifies that the individual has passed an accreditation examination given by an accredited testing service recognized by the Conference for Food Protection or an equivalent nationally recognized certification program as determined by the state department”; the Indiana Department of Health points to the ANAB (ANSI) accredited Food Protection Manager programs list. A general food handler certificate is a different, lower-level credential and does not satisfy this requirement — HEA 1210 (2020) renamed Indiana’s credential from “Certified Food Handler” to “Certified Food Protection Manager” precisely to “eliminate confusion over similarly named, differing levels of food handler training.” One narrow category does need an individual certificate, and it is statutory rather than local: under Ind. Code 16-42-5.3-7 a home based vendor (a cottage-food seller) “shall obtain a food handler certificate from a certificate issuer that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute,” must provide a copy to the state department or an end consumer on request, and must file a copy with the local health department in the county where the vendor’s residence is located. That accreditation carries a testing condition the Indiana Code does not spell out. The CFP Standard for Accreditation of Food Protection Manager Certification Programs (approved at the 2025 CFP Biennial Meeting) provides at §4.14 that “All examinations shall be delivered and administered in a format that ensures the security of the examination. Un-proctored examinations are not acceptable regardless of the mode of administration.” An online exam still qualifies if it is remotely proctored — §1.42 defines remote proctoring as supervision by “a proctor who is in a different location,” with the examinee “monitored by a human proctor using online monitoring software and artificial intelligence software.” What does not qualify is an unproctored, self-administered certificate.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

No employee food-handler card exists in Indiana, and no local government may invent one: “a corporation or local health department may not impose any registration, certification, or licensing requirements on food handling or certified food protection managers” (IC 16-42-5.2-1). Indiana’s only mandate is one Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) per non-exempt establishment, and the chapter carries three express exemption sections. Exempt food establishments – IC 16-42-5.2-2: the chapter “does not apply to a food establishment when the food establishment’s food handling activities do not include the cooking of raw food of an animal origin or are limited to one (1) or more of the following: (1) Heating or serving precooked foods. (2) Preparing or serving a continental breakfast such as rolls, coffee, juice, milk, and cold cereal. (3) Preparing or serving beverages or ice. (4) Preparing or serving packaged or unpackaged low hazard foods, including elephant ears, funnel cakes, cotton candy, confectionaries, baked goods, popcorn, and chips and grinding coffee beans. (5) Providing prepackaged food in its original package.” Exempt entities – IC 16-42-5.2-3: hospitals licensed under IC 16-21; health facilities licensed under IC 16-28; housing with services establishments filing disclosure statements under IC 12-10-15; continuing care retirement communities under IC 23-2-4; community mental health centers; private mental health institutions licensed under IC 12-25; an area agency on aging providing food under a nutrition service program; and a food pantry operated by or affiliated with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that distributes food to needy persons. Exempt organizations – IC 16-42-5.2-3.5: an organization exempt from the state gross retail tax under IC 6-2.5-5-25(a)(1)(B), (C), or (D) “is exempt from complying with the requirements of this chapter,” though it may waive the exemption and use a CFPM voluntarily. Commonly ASSUMED exempt but not – the statute claws back two cases in the same breath as granting them: “the premises where the food is prepared is not exempt” for an area agency on aging (IC 16-42-5.2-3(7)), and “a food bank or other facility that distributes donated food to other organizations is not exempt” (IC 16-42-5.2-3(8)) – so a food bank supplying other charities is covered even though a food pantry serving needy persons directly is not. Relief short of exemption: the CFPM “need not be present at the food establishment during all hours of operation” (IC 16-42-5.2-8(a)); only one CFPM is required where the same individual operates multiple establishments on the same or contiguous property (IC 16-42-5.2-11); a new or newly-sold establishment has six months to comply (IC 16-42-5.2-9), and three months after a CFPM leaves (IC 16-42-5.2-10). Verified against IC 16-42-5.2 as published in the 2026 Indiana Code (iga.in.gov) – not the rule 410 IAC 7-22, which is superseded on this point in any case: HEA 1210 (2020) was “formatted to include sections of 410 IAC 7-22 … to eliminate the need to promulgate a separate rule,” so the operative requirements now sit in IC 16-42-5.2 itself, and the Indiana Department of Health has said it would repeal the rule. IDOH’s Laws, Rules and Regulations page still lists 410 IAC 7-22 and still serves the 2006 rule document, and we could not reach the Indiana Administrative Code publisher (iac.iga.in.gov) by any means available to us, so this page does not say whether that rule has formally expired. A related 2026 category: Ind. Code 16-42-5.4, added by P.L.163-2026, provides that a homestead vendor or small-farm owner needs no certificate to sell on their own property or at a farmers market, but under Ind. Code 16-42-5.4-8 only one who holds a food handler’s certificate “from a certificate issuer that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute” may ship or deliver a food product or meat product in a sealed package to an end consumer; one who does not “may not ship or deliver a food product or meat product.” And the next subsection limits even that: Ind. Code 16-42-5.4-8(c) provides that a homestead vendor or small-farm owner “may not ship or deliver a food product or meat product to an end consumer who is located outside Indiana,” certificate or not. One limit on the relief above: under Ind. Code 16-42-5.2-8(b), where the state department and the establishment enter into a variance, the certified food protection manager may be required to be present during all hours of operation if the variance so provides — and 410 IAC 7-26-134 separately requires a person in charge to be present during all hours of operation.

Where to check

None for an employee food handler card — Indiana does not issue or require one. The Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection Program regulates retail food establishments and requires a Certified Food Protection Manager (manager-level) certificate instead, issued by Conference for Food Protection / ANSI-accredited exam providers (not the state).