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.
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 valid for 5 years, from a Conference-for-Food-Protection / ANSI-accredited proctored exam (online-only food handler certificates do not qualify). Per the state rule, only Home Based Vendors must obtain a food handler certificate (Porter County LHD official page).
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 EXPIRED January 1, 2022 and is no longer law.
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).