Does New Hampshire Require a Food Handler Card?

New Hampshire requires no individual food handler card.

Quick answer

New Hampshire requires no individual food handler card. Licensed food establishments must have a Person in Charge who is a Certified Food Protection Manager, except the twenty categories He-P 2303.02(a) exempts, such as bed and breakfasts and bars without a food preparation area. Establishments with 5 or fewer food employees on duty need only one available CFPM on staff. NH's 15 self-inspecting cities and towns may set their own terms.

How long: A newly licensed establishment must have a CFPM within 45 days of its initial licensing inspection.

At a glance

Food Handler Card

Requirement: No state requirement
Who must hold one: No individual food handler/employee is required by New Hampshire state law to hold a food-handler card… details below
Issuing agency: No state food-handler card exists, so there is no card-issuing authority… full text
No state food-handler card exists, so there is no card-issuing authority. New Hampshire's food-safety regulator is the NH DHHS Food Protection Section (Concord). The credential NH actually mandates — the Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) — is issued not by the state but by third-party programs accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and recognized by the Conference for Food Protection (CFP).

Legal basis

NH Administrative Rules He-P 2300 (Sanitary Production & Distribution of Food) — specifically He-P 2303's incorporation of the 2017 FDA Food Code, which establishes the Certified Food Protection Manager requirement for the Person in Charge; enabling statutes RSA 143 (Sanitary Production & Distribution of Food) and RSA 143-A (Food Service Licensure). No He-P 2300 part or RSA provision mandates an individual employee food-handler card.

Reviewed regulatory changes affecting this page

August 25, 2026 (rule effective) — New Hampshire exempted food pantries from its food protection manager requirement when it readopted He-P 2300 on August 25, 2026
Corrected the same day. nh-food-handler's list of categories exempt from the manager-certification requirement now carries all twenty categories of He-P 2303.02(a) as readopted August 25, 2026, including the new 'Category I-1, food pantries', with the nineteen-item history dated; the adopted-rule filing is cited alongside the online chapter, which still served the old text.
Before: He-P 2303.02(a) listed nineteen establishment categories exempt from the certified food protection manager requirement, ending at 'Category G-8, food processing plants that manufacturer or package non-TCS food.' That version was in force from August 5, 2022.
After: The readopted He-P 2303.02(a) lists twenty categories and ends 'or (20) Category I-1, food pantries.' The licensing-category table in the readopted He-P 2304.04 carries the matching 'Class I, Category I-1, food pantries'. Everything else in He-P 2303.02 is carried over, with 'food establishment' rewritten as 'food service establishment or retail food store'.
Who this affects: New Hampshire food pantries, which no longer need a certified food protection manager on staff. Every other licensed food service establishment or retail food store is where it was: at least one certified food protection manager, within 45 days of the initial licensing inspection, 90 days to replace one who leaves, and only one required where five or fewer food employees are on duty. No individual worker gains or loses a credential, because New Hampshire issues no food handler card.
Primary source: New Hampshire Office of Legislative Services, Administrative Rules

Every entry above was read and verified by a person against the official instrument before it was published. Full record, with what changed and the primary source: the change log.

New Hampshire does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

No statewide employee food-handler card; NH instead requires each licensed establishment’s Person-in-Charge to be a Certified Food Protection Manager — a manager-level, one-per-establishment credential.

What it’s called

New Hampshire requires no individual food handler card. Statewide, the food-safety duty falls on the establishment instead — it must have a Person-in-Charge. “Food handler license,” “food handlers permit,” “food safety certificate” and “food handler card” are common searches, but New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire requires instead

No individual food handler/employee is required by New Hampshire state law to hold a food-handler card. Statewide, each licensed food establishment must have a Person in Charge (PIC) who is a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM); establishments with 5 or fewer food employees on duty need only one available CFPM on staff (not necessarily present), and a newly licensed establishment must have a CFPM within 45 days of its initial licensing inspection. This is a manager-level, one-per-establishment requirement — not an every-employee handler card. (Employees do complete an Employee Health Reporting Agreement per He-P 2307 / Food Code, but that is not a card or certification.)

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

New Hampshire issues no employee food handler card, so no food employee needs one - and NH DHHS is explicit that a Food Handler Certification does not even satisfy the credential NH does require (CFPM FAQ Q18: “No, the course needs to be one [of] the accredited programs… it shall be specific to a manager and include a proctored exam”). The exemptions below are from that credential: the Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) requirement on the Person in Charge.

Establishment categories exempt from the CFPM requirement - He-P 2303.02(a), as readopted with amendment effective August 25, 2026 (adopted rule #14678, Notice NN 2026-107), which runs to twenty categories: (1) Category A-1, food processing plants which commercially process 100,000 packages of food or more, per year; (2) Category C-5, food processing plants which commercially process less than 100,000 packages of TCS food per year; (3) Category C-6, cold storage or refrigerating warehouse; (4) Category D-4, retail food stores that allow self-service of food, including coffee, hot dogs, or soft drinks; (5) Category D-6, servicing areas; (6) Category E-1, bed and breakfasts; (7) Category E-3, lodging facilities serving continental breakfasts; (8) Category F-1, home delivery services of packaged frozen food; (9) Category F-2, pushcarts and other mobile food units, including those serving packaged food and non-TCS unwrapped foods only; (10) Category F-3, retail food stores with no food preparation areas; (11) Category F-4, wholesalers or distributors of TCS food; (12) Category F-5, on-site vending machines or unattended markets, which serve TCS food; (13) Category F-6, bakeries which do not serve TCS food and have no seats; (14) Category F-7, farm store; (15) Category G-1, bars or lounges without a food preparation area; (16) Category G-2, arena or theater concessions serving non-TCS food; (17) Category G-3, retail food stores serving pre-packaged ice cream; (18) Category G-7, sellers of pre-packaged frozen meat or poultry that is processed in a USDA-inspected plant; (19) Category G-8, food processing plants that manufacture or package non-TCS food; or (20) Category I-1, food pantries. Food pantries were added as an exempt category by the August 25, 2026 readoption; before that date nineteen categories were listed. Two official New Hampshire sources still print a shorter list than the readopted rule, and they do not agree with each other, so read both with their dates attached. (1) the codified rule page at gc.nh.gov still serves the pre-readoption text of He-P 2303.02(a) - nineteen categories, no food pantries, under the source note “#12852, eff 8-20-19; ss by #13428, eff 8-5-22” - because New Hampshire posts rules there after certification, and the readoption is filed as “awaiting certification”. (2) the food protection section’s certified food protection manager FAQ prints eighteen, omitting both food pantries and “(14) Category F-7, farm store”; the FAQ is the older document of the two, dated August 31, 2023 by its own PDF metadata and by the server’s last-modified header, notwithstanding the “2021-11” folder in its web address. Where the FAQ and the rule differ, the rule governs - the FAQ describes the rule, it does not make it. All three documents were read live on September 17, 2026.

Unlicensed, so the CFPM requirement does not apply at all (FAQ Q17): “occasional” food service establishments - food served or provided to the public no more than 4 days during a 30-day period (any part of a day counts as a full day) - and “temporary” food service establishments - operating at a fixed location for not more than 2 weeks in connection with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition or similar transitory gathering - “are exempt from a food service license by the State of New Hampshire,” and therefore “licensing requirements and regulation including the CFPM requirement, do not apply.”

CFPM required but need not be present (FAQ Q4/Q10): an establishment with at least one CFPM on staff need not have the CFPM present when no food preparation is taking place, or when food preparation is limited to reheating commercially prepared food or ready-to-eat food; and an establishment having 5 food employees or less on duty needs only one CFPM on staff who is “available, although not required to be present,” during all hours of operation (Q9: a district or regional supervisor who is a CFPM may serve as that available CFPM). Q16: a licensed caterer needs no CFPM at an off-site event if no food preparation takes place at the event. Q8: the owner does not have to be the CFPM.

Commonly ASSUMED exempt but not: an establishment exempt from the CFPM requirement still must have a Person in Charge during all hours of operation (FAQ Q7) - the exemption is from the manager certification, not from having a PIC. NH’s 15 self-inspecting cities/towns (Bedford, Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Derry, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, Merrimack, Nashua, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rochester, Salem) may set their own terms; DHHS directs operators there to consult the local authority (FAQ Q15), so an exemption above is not guaranteed to hold in those jurisdictions. Source: NH DHHS Food Protection Section, Certified Food Protection Manager FAQ.

Local requirements

New Hampshire has 15 self-inspecting cities/towns (Bedford, Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Derry, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, Merrimack, Nashua, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rochester, Salem) that administer their own food-safety programs; NH DHHS directs operators in those jurisdictions to consult the local authority. Their personnel requirement centers on the CFPM (manager) certification, not an individual employee handler card — no self-inspecting town was verified from an official source to mandate an every-employee food-handler card.

Where to check

No state food-handler card exists, so there is no card-issuing authority. New Hampshire’s food-safety regulator is the NH DHHS Food Protection Section (Concord). The credential NH actually mandates — the Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) — is issued not by the state but by third-party programs accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and recognized by the Conference for Food Protection (CFP).

Frequently asked questions

Does New Hampshire require a food handler card?

No. New Hampshire does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

What food-safety training does New Hampshire require instead?

Do any New Hampshire counties or cities require a food handler card?

Where do I check New Hampshire's food-safety requirements?

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in New Hampshire.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: September 2, 2026.

We re-check cited sources on a weekly schedule wherever a source can be fetched automatically. See what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.