Food Manager Certification by State

A food manager certification is a supervisory credential — most states that require it demand at least one certified manager or person in charge per establishment, and presence rules can require more — not the card an individual food employee carries. Across the 51 US jurisdictions in this atlas, 39 impose an affirmative manager-certification duty and 12 make it voluntary, leave it to counties, or - in Oregon’s case - have codified a mandate that phases in from 2028. Every cell below is drawn from that jurisdiction’s own sourced record.

What the records mean by “food manager certification”

The credential appears in state rules under several names — Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM), Certified Food Safety Manager, certified food service manager, food safety certified owner or employee — but the records describe the same two shapes:

• A staffing duty. At least one supervisory or management employee per establishment must hold certification from an accredited program. Georgia’s rule is typical: “each food service establishment must employ at least one Certified Food Safety Manager (a supervisory/management employee who passes an accredited-program exam; one per establishment).”
• A person-in-charge duty. The person actually in charge while the establishment operates must be certified. Texas states it directly in 25 TAC 228.31(b): “a certified food protection manager shall be present at the food establishment during all hours of operation.”

Some jurisdictions impose one, some both, and some impose neither — several states instead let the person in charge demonstrate food-safety knowledge to the inspector, with manager certification named only as one optional way to do it.

It is not the same thing as a food handler card

The records draw this distinction explicitly, because the two credentials are routinely confused. The records state it repeatedly and in their own words: a Certified Food Protection Manager is “a separate, higher certification for one supervisor per establishment,” and New Hampshire’s health department states expressly that “a Food Handler Certification does not meet the CFPM requirement.” North Carolina’s record carries a departmental warning that food-handler courses from the same organizations do not satisfy the manager requirement.

The two credentials can also displace each other, in one direction only. In Texas, Utah and New Mexico the manager certificate exempts its holder from the employee handler card; in Oregon a current approved food manager certification, renewed every five years, substitutes for the food handler certificate. Nowhere in these records does a handler card satisfy a manager requirement.

What each jurisdiction requires of ordinary employees is a different question, answered on the food handler card pages and summarised in Is ServSafe Required in Your State?

About exam providers

The rules point at an accreditation standard — Conference for Food Protection recognition, ANAB/ANSI accreditation — or at a health department’s approved list, not at a brand. Where a record names ServSafe, Prometric or the National Registry, it names them as examples of accredited programs. We describe providers as compliance steps and never rank, review or recommend one; see our editorial policy .

Manager certification by jurisdiction

Fees and renewal periods vary by jurisdiction and are stated on the individual state pages where they are verified; they are deliberately not summarised in this table, because the underlying records do not carry them uniformly.

39 jurisdictions require manager certification · 12 make it voluntary, leave it to counties, or (Oregon) phase it in from 2028.

Jurisdictions worth reading closely

South Carolina — two duties in one section

South Carolina imposes both shapes at once. Under Regulation 61-25 Sec. 2-102.12: “(A) at least one supervisory/management employee per establishment must be a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM); (B) at all times during operation the person in charge must be a certified food handler OR a CFPM; (C) minimal-risk establishments designated by the Department are exempt.” The record flags the trap directly: an ordinary food employee needs no certificate, but “whoever is acting as the PERSON IN CHARGE at any time during operation must be a certified food handler or a CFPM.” Sec. 2-102.20(B) adds a deemed-compliance route — an establishment with a CFPM-certified employee “is deemed to comply with 2-102.12.”

Texas — presence during all hours, and a $35 statutory cap

Texas requires a certified manager on the premises whenever the establishment is open: 25 TAC 228.31(b) states that “a certified food protection manager shall be present at the food establishment during all hours of operation as required in Food Code, sec. 2-101.11 and sec. 2-102.12,” and 228.31(a) requires that “the original food manager certificate shall be posted in the food establishment in a location that is conspicuous to consumers.” The presence mandate carries its own minimal-risk exemption list at 228.31(c). Texas is also the one record in this table that states a price ceiling: it “statutorily caps only the food MANAGER certificate at $35 (HSC 438.106)” — a cap that expressly does not apply to the employee handler card.

Connecticut — the duty is tiered by establishment class

Connecticut sorts establishments into classes and attaches the duty to the higher ones: “every Class 2, 3, and 4 food establishment must have a person in charge who is a Certified Food Protection Manager on site at all times the establishment is operating (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4),” while “Class 1 establishments need a person in charge but not a certified manager.” There is also a narrow relief valve. When the CFPM cannot be present, a written-designated alternate who is not a CFPM may take charge — but only “during non-peak hours of operation, such as an overnight shift in which no more than two employees are on-site, and there is limited or no food preparation taking place,” and that alternate must demonstrate the same knowledge as a CFPM.

Oregon — not required today, and the phase-in has THREE dates under TWO regulators

Oregon is the state where the answer changes on a date — and it has three of them, because Oregon splits food establishments between two regulators. The Oregon Department of Agriculture licenses grocery, convenience and other retail food establishments, and its Retail Food Code 2026 § 2-102.12(A) (incorporated by OAR 603-025-0030) sets the earliest deadline in the state: “By July 1, 2028, FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS must have at least one CERTIFIED FOOD PROTECTION MANAGER on staff as evidenced by a valid certificate available from an ACCREDITED PROGRAM. The certificate must be available upon request. If the CERTIFIED FOOD PROTECTION MANAGER leaves employment for any reason, the FOOD ESTABLISHMENT must have another CERTIFIED FOOD PROTECTION MANAGER on staff within sixty days.” The Oregon Health Authority and county health departments license restaurants under ORS chapter 624, and OAR 333-150-0000 § 2-102.12 phases in separately: “(A) By January 1, 2029, at least one person in charge shall be a certified food protection manager… (B) By January 1, 2031… The certified person in charge must be present each day the establishment operates and during the hours of operation that represent the highest food safety risk.” Which deadline binds a given business follows which agency licenses it. Nothing is required today: what a current approved manager certification does now is substitute for the employee food handler card, provided it is renewed every five years (OAR 333-175-0091(2)-(3)). Note that OHA’s own program page states the headline more loosely than its rule - “Food Manager Certification will be required in Oregon starting in 2029” - and ODA’s own handout drops the date altogether (“Most food establishments are required to have a Certified Food Protection Manager”), while the rule it cites says “By July 1, 2028.” Where an agency’s summary and its rule disagree, the rule is what is enforceable.

Wyoming — voluntary statewide, mandatory in Teton County

Wyoming writes the word “voluntarily” into the rule. Under the Wyoming Food Safety Rule Ch.1 Sec. 10(a) the person in charge demonstrates knowledge “by compliance with this Rule, by responding correctly to the inspectors’ questions as they relate to the specific establishment or processing plant, or by VOLUNTARILY being a certified food protection manager who has shown proficiency of required information through passing a test that is part of an accredited program.” One county overrides that locally: Teton County’s FOOD RULE 2026 Ch.1 Sec. 11(a) reads “The person in charge, as defined in Chapter 1, Section 9, shall be a Certified Food Protection Manager,” with a 90-day replacement window at Sec. 11(b) and a minimal-risk exception at Sec. 11(c). The record also notes that Cheyenne and Laramie County are reported to require one, but that report was not independently verified — so we do not state it as fact.

Minnesota — a public register of certificates

Minnesota requires one CFPM per licensed establishment under Minnesota Rules part 4626.0033, on a three-year certificate — certification is by examination from an ANSI-CFP-accredited provider, and renewal requires four or more hours of approved training — with a four-item exemption list at item B and 60-day grace windows at items C and E. It also does something few states do: the Minnesota Department of Health publishes a public lookup of active Certified Food Protection Manager certificates . The record is careful about what that register is — “a CFPM register, not a food-handler-card register.”

Frequently asked questions

Is a food handler card the same as a food manager certification?

No. The records treat them as different credentials at different levels: a Certified Food Protection Manager is “a separate, higher certification for one supervisor per establishment,” while a handler card is the entry-level credential an individual food employee holds. New Hampshire’s health department states expressly that a Food Handler Certification does not meet the CFPM requirement, and North Carolina’s record carries a departmental warning that food-handler courses from the same organizations do not satisfy the manager requirement. The substitution works only the other way: in Texas, Utah, New Mexico and Oregon, holding the manager certification excuses that person from the handler card.

Does a certified manager have to be present the whole time the business is open?

It depends on the jurisdiction, and the records split cleanly. Texas requires a certified food protection manager “present at the food establishment during all hours of operation” (25 TAC 228.31(b)), and Connecticut requires the CFPM person in charge on site at all operating times for Class 2, 3 and 4 establishments. Pennsylvania requires a certified supervisor present or immediately accessible during all operating hours. Indiana, Iowa and New Jersey say the opposite: their records state the CFPM need not be present during all hours, though New Jersey still requires a designated person in charge on site.

Is manager certification required in every state?

No. Of the 51 jurisdictions in this atlas, 39 impose an affirmative requirement and 12 do not: Hawaii expressly declined to adopt the FDA Food Code’s CFPM requirement in its Aug. 24, 2025 amendments; Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota and Nevada do not adopt the relevant Food Code section, or adopt only a knowledge-demonstration duty; Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming name manager certification as one optional route among several; Maryland leaves it to county authorities; New York’s Subpart 14-1 contains no manager mandate at all and merely permits the local permit-issuing official to require training (10 NYCRR 14-1.73), which is the hook Monroe County and New York City hang their own certificates on; Oklahoma requires it only in some localities such as Oklahoma City; and Oregon has not yet reached its earliest phase-in date of July 1, 2028 (ODA-licensed retail; Jan. 1, 2029 for OHA-licensed restaurants).

Who exactly has to hold the certification?

The rules describe two patterns. Some attach the duty to a role in the staffing structure — Georgia and Arkansas require a supervisory or management employee, Wisconsin an operator, manager or designee, Louisiana the owner or one designated person. Others attach it to whoever is running the shift: Delaware requires the person in charge present at the time of inspection, the District of Columbia requires each person in charge to be certified and to hold a DC Health-issued ID card, and Colorado requires the on-duty person in charge to be a CFPM. Several states then carve out low-risk operations entirely — the exemption lists are on the individual state pages.

Sources

Every statement on this page is drawn from the sourced state records in this atlas. Each linked state page cites its own official state, county or agency source and carries its own verification date. Follow the links in the table above for the rule text, the exemptions, and — where the jurisdiction publishes them — the fees and renewal periods.

Licensing rules change. Every official source cited on this page is re-checked weekly — see recent changes and our corrections log .