South Dakota does not require an individual statewide food handler card.

State mandates a certified food service MANAGER per establishment, not individual employee handler cards.

What it’s called

South Dakota requires no individual food handler card. Statewide, the food-safety duty falls on the establishment instead — it must have a certified food service manager. “Food handler license,” “food handlers permit,” “food safety certificate” and “food handler card” are common searches, but South Dakota 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 South Dakota requires instead

No individual food handler card is required in South Dakota. Instead, ARSD 44:02:07:03 requires every food service establishment and mobile food service establishment to designate a “person in charge” for each work shift, and at least one person in charge per establishment must be a certified food service MANAGER (one-per-establishment credential). New establishments must have a certified manager before opening; 90-day grace periods apply on change of ownership or when a certified manager leaves. Temporary food service establishments are exempt. This is a manager certification, not an employee food-handler card.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

South Dakota issues no food handler card, so no employee has a card duty to be exempted from. The state’s only food-safety credential mandate — the certified food service manager / person-in-charge rule — carries an express exemption, and several operations sit outside the licensing chapter that triggers it in the first place.

EXPRESS EXEMPTION FROM THE MANAGER-CERTIFICATION RULE — ARSD 44:02:07:03, final sentence: “Temporary food service establishments are exempt from the food service manager certification requirement.”

OUTSIDE THE LICENSING CHAPTER (SDCL ch. 34-18), on whose licence-holder duty ARSD 44:02:07:03 is built:

  • NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS — SDCL 34-18-20: “Nonprofit organizations shall be exempt from the licensing and license fee provisions of this chapter.”
  • Establishments serving alcoholic beverages (as defined in ch. 35-1) “who do not otherwise come within the definition of a food service establishment, temporary food service establishment, or mobile food service establishment” — SDCL 34-18-20.
  • BED AND BREAKFAST ESTABLISHMENTS — SDCL 34-18-9.2: “No bed and breakfast establishment as defined in Sec. 34-18-9.1 is subject to be licensed under the provisions of this chapter” (they register instead, SDCL 34-18-9.3).
  • FARMERS MARKETS / ROADSIDE STANDS selling whole, intact fresh fruits or vegetables — SDCL 34-18-34: no such seller “is required to be licensed pursuant to this chapter.”
  • HOME-PREPARED (COTTAGE) FOOD — SDCL 34-18-35 and 34-18-38: a person selling food prepared at their primary residence is “exempt from the licensing and license fee provisions of this chapter” when the statutory conditions are met (food meets Sec. 34-18-37, sold in the seller’s physical presence at the residence, a farmer’s market, a roadside stand or other temporary sale venue, and personally delivered).
  • Fairs and nonprofit organisations operating a temporary food service establishment are exempt from the temporary licence FEE — SDCL 34-18-18.

TWO LIMITS ON THOSE EXEMPTIONS, STATED IN THE STATUTES THEMSELVES — do not overread them: (1) exemption from licensing “does not release the owner of such establishments from compliance with the public health requirements of this chapter and the rules and regulations of the department” (SDCL 34-18-20; the same saver appears in SDCL 34-18-18); and (2) the department may still enter and inspect an exempt establishment upon receipt of a complaint (SDCL 34-18-25.3).

NOT EXEMPT: a licensed restaurant that changes ownership, or that loses its certified food service manager, does not become exempt — it receives a 90-day grace period to install another certified food service manager (ARSD 44:02:07:03).

Where to check

No food handler card is issued in South Dakota (none exists statewide). Food service safety is regulated by the South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Food & Lodging (issues food service licenses; enforces ARSD 44:02:07). The only mandated food-safety credential — the certified food service MANAGER cert — is earned from state-approved ServSafe-equivalent providers, not issued by the state.