Connecticut Food Manager Certification: no state fee

Connecticut requires a Certified Food Protection Manager (Connecticut requires a certified food protection manager to be the person in charge of every Class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment at all times the establishment is operating). Every figure below is verified against the official source and dated.

The rule

Connecticut requires a certified food protection manager to be the person in charge of every Class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment at all times the establishment is operating. The duty is statutory and is spelled out by regulation.

Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c), verbatim: “Each class 2 food establishment, class 3 food establishment and class 4 food establishment shall employ a certified food protection manager. No person shall serve as a certified food protection manager unless such person has satisfactorily passed a test as part of a food protection manager certification program that is evaluated and approved by an accrediting agency recognized by the Conference for Food Protection as conforming to its standards for accreditation of food protection manager certification programs. A certified food inspector shall verify that the food protection manager is certified upon inspection of the food establishment. The owner or manager of the food service establishment shall designate an alternate person or persons to be in charge at all times when the certified food protection manager cannot be present.”

Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b), verbatim: “At all times, a class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment is operating, the person in charge shall be a certified food protection manager, except as permitted by subsection (c) of this section, who shall: (1) Have obtained certification as required pursuant to section 19a-36i of the Connecticut General Statutes; (2) Maintain such certification on file at the food establishment and provide such certification to the food inspector upon request; and (3) Be a full-time employee, and assigned as the certified food protection manager to only one food establishment.”

The regulation took effect February 17, 2023 and is part of the package DPH describes as “Sections 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7,” adopted to implement the FDA Food Code and Conn. Gen. Stat. Secs. 19a-36g through 19a-36m.

What it’s called

In Connecticut the credential is the certified food protection manager (CFPM). “Food manager certification,” “food manager license,” “food safety manager certification,” “ServSafe Manager” and “CT food manager card” are informal names searchers use for the same duty; none of them is a Connecticut-issued credential. Two naming traps are specific to this state. (1) “Qualified food operator” (QFO) is Connecticut’s OLD term and it is still visible in the General Statutes – Sec. 19a-36a and Sec. 19a-36b are on the books and speak of “food operators” and “the examination requirement for qualified food operators” – but the regulations that implemented that regime were repealed: DPH states that the February 17, 2023 regulation “repeals sections 19-13-B40, 19-13-B42, 19-13-B48, 19-13-B49, which are outdated and in conflict with the current requirements of the Food Code and these regulations.” Content that still describes a Connecticut “qualified food operator” requirement is describing a repealed rule. (2) It is not a food handler card: Connecticut requires no individual employee food-handler card at all.

How this relates to the food handler card

There is no substitution question in Connecticut, because only one of the two credentials exists here.

Connecticut requires no individual food-handler card. Nothing in Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 368a Secs. 19a-36g to 19a-36r, and nothing in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, requires a food employee to hold a card, permit or certificate to work with food. The only mandated food-safety credential in Connecticut is the certified food protection manager, and it is an establishment-level compliance duty carried by the person in charge.

So a handler card cannot satisfy the manager duty (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) requires a test from a Conference-for-Food-Protection-accredited program), and the manager certification cannot substitute for a handler card, because Connecticut has no handler card to substitute for.

A separate, non-credential duty does sit on every food establishment including Class 1: Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(a) requires each Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 food establishment to “have a person in charge who meets the requirements of section 2-102.11 of the food code and who is on-site at the food establishment at all times the establishment is operating.” Section 2-102.11 of the FDA Food Code is a knowledge-demonstration standard, not a certificate. In a Class 1 establishment that person in charge need not be a certified food protection manager.

The employee-level question — whether Connecticut requires a food handler card — is answered on the Connecticut food handler card page .

Quick facts

• Requirement level: State-mandated — Connecticut requires a certified food protection manager to be the person in charge of every Class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment at all times the establishment is operating

• Duty shape: The person in charge must be certified

• Who must hold it: The person in charge of a Class 2, 3 or 4 food establishment must be a certified food protection manager, at all times that establishment is operating (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)). Read the two layers precisely:

• Every class, including Class 1, must have a person in charge on-site at all times the establishment is operating – but in a Class 1 establishment that person need only meet section 2-102.11 of the food code, not hold a certification (19a-36h-4(a)).

• In a Class 2, 3 or 4 establishment the person in charge must additionally BE a certified food protection manager, subject only to the non-peak-hours alternate in 19a-36h-4(c).

The person who holds the certification is not free-floating: under 19a-36h-4(b)(3) the certified food protection manager must “be a full-time employee, and assigned as the certified food protection manager to only one food establishment.” “Full-time” is defined in Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-1(13) as “a person normally employed and on duty not less than thirty hours per week on a regular basis, or the total number of hours the food establishment is open per week, if less than thirty hours.”

Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) states the employment side of the same duty – each class 2, 3 and 4 establishment “shall employ a certified food protection manager” – and requires the food inspector to verify the certification at inspection.

• Presence rule: Yes – and this is Connecticut’s sharpest departure from the common one-certified-person-on-staff model. Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b): “At all times, a class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment is operating, the person in charge shall be a certified food protection manager, except as permitted by subsection (c) of this section.” Subsection (a) separately requires a person in charge on-site “at all times the establishment is operating” for Class 1 through 4.

The one relief is narrow and conditional (19a-36h-4(c)): “The owner or manager of each class 2, 3 and 4 food establishment shall appoint an alternate person to be in charge, when the person in charge cannot be present. The alternate person in charge shall only be utilized 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. Such appointment shall be in writing on a form prescribed by the commissioner.” The alternate must “[d]emonstrate the same knowledge as a certified food protection manager” and, on request of a food inspector, demonstrate the knowledge required under section 2-102.11(C)(1) to (17) of the food code – but the alternate is not required to be certified.

Enforcement weight is stated in the rule itself: “The food inspector shall consider noncompliance with subsection (c) of this section a priority foundation item and shall cite such finding on the food inspection report form” (19a-36h-4(d)).

• Minimum certified people: At least one certified food protection manager per Class 2, 3 or 4 food establishment – Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c): each such establishment “shall employ a certified food protection manager.” Connecticut sets no numeric ratio to staff count, seats or shifts anywhere in ch. 368a or in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. In practice the presence rule, not a headcount rule, is what drives how many certified people an operation needs: because the person in charge must be a certified food protection manager at all times the establishment is operating (19a-36h-4(b)) and the non-certified alternate may only be used during non-peak hours (19a-36h-4(c)), a single certified manager cannot cover an establishment whose operating hours exceed one person’s working time. Connecticut does not say so in terms, and this page does not assert a number the state has not set.
• Certificate issued by: A food protection manager certification program accredited under the Conference for Food Protection standard – not the State of Connecticut. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) requires that the person “satisfactorily passed a test as part of a food protection manager certification program that is evaluated and approved by an accrediting agency recognized by the Conference for Food Protection as conforming to its standards for accreditation of food protection manager certification programs.” Connecticut issues nothing of its own: no state certificate, card, number or registry appears in ch. 368a or in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7 (the word “certificate” does not occur in that regulation text at all).

Neither DPH nor the statute names individual programs. The one official Connecticut pointer found to a list of eligible programs is at the local level: the New Haven Health Department’s food licensing page sends operators to the ANSI National Accreditation Board’s public directory of accredited food protection manager certification programs, under the heading “Find resources for Certified Food Protection Managers.”

• Regulator: Connecticut Department of Public Health, Food Protection Program, sets and interprets the rules; the 59 local health departments and health districts license, inspect and enforce. DPH states it plainly: “The State of Connecticut uses the 2022 FDA Model Food Code, the Connecticut General Statutes, and the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies. These regulations are enforced by the local health departments/districts who issue licenses, conduct routine inspections of retail food establishments, respond to consumer complaints, and investigate foodborne illness outbreaks.” DPH’s licensing page routes operators to the local level: “Contact the local health department serving your town for information on obtaining a food service license. Specific requirements and procedures may vary from town to town.” The permit itself is issued by the director of health of the town, city or borough (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(a)).
• Valid for: No state term. Connecticut sets no expiration, term or renewal cycle for the certification: the words “renew”, “expire” and “valid” do not occur anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7 (full text, revised 2024-10-29), and Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) requires only that the person has passed a CFP-accredited program’s test. Whatever term the certificate carries is the accredited program’s, not Connecticut’s.
• Renewal: None set by Connecticut. Neither the statute nor the regulation gives the certification a term, an expiration or a renewal cycle: no occurrence of “renew”, “expire”, “valid” or “days” exists anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7 (full subject-matter text, revised 2024-10-29), and Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) states only that the person must have “satisfactorily passed a test as part of a food protection manager certification program” that is CFP-accredited.

The practical expiry is therefore the accredited program’s own – Conference for Food Protection accredited certifications commonly carry a fixed term – but that term is the program’s, is not stated in Connecticut law, and must not be published as a Connecticut rule. The continuing Connecticut duty is instead a status duty: the person in charge of a Class 2, 3 or 4 establishment must BE a certified food protection manager at all times the establishment is operating, and the certification must be on file and produced to the food inspector on request.

• State fee: Connecticut charges nothing for the manager certification. There is no state application, no state certificate and no state fee: no fee provision of any kind appears in Conn. Gen. Stat. Secs. 19a-36a, 19a-36b, 19a-36g through 19a-36m, and the word “fee” does not occur anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7.

The money in this area belongs to two other things, and neither is a manager fee. (1) The establishment’s own food service license, issued locally – New Haven’s Environmental Health annual fee schedule, linked from its food licensing page and updated June 2026, prices “Standard Food Service Establishments $200.00 per establishment,” “Catering Food Service Establishments $550.00 per establishment,” “Micro Food Service Establishments $75.00 per establishment” and “Temporary Food Service Establishments $80.00 per license.” Those are New Haven’s establishment fees and they vary by town; DPH says so (“Specific requirements and procedures may vary from town to town”). (2) The accredited certification program’s own exam or course price, which is set by the program and is not published by any Connecticut authority.

Training and exam

Passing “a test as part of a food protection manager certification program” accredited under the Conference for Food Protection standard (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c)). That is the whole of Connecticut’s exam law.

Connecticut sets no passing score, no proctoring rule, no retake rule, no time limit, no language requirement and no exam validity window. None of these appears in ch. 368a or anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. Those terms are set by the accredited program under the CFP standard, not by Connecticut, and attributing a passing score such as 75% to Connecticut would be a fabricated state fact.

Connecticut also imposes no course-hour prerequisite: the statute conditions the credential on passing the accredited program’s test, not on attending a course of any length. Whether training accompanies the exam is the program’s design, not a Connecticut requirement.

Approved courses and the approval standard

Accreditation, not state approval. Connecticut does not maintain an approved-provider list, does not approve individual courses and does not run an equivalency review. The single test is the one in Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c): the certification program must be “evaluated and approved by an accrediting agency recognized by the Conference for Food Protection as conforming to its standards for accreditation of food protection manager certification programs.”

There is no reciprocity or out-of-state clause, because on the face of the statute none is needed: the qualifying fact is the accreditation of the program, not where the person sat the exam. Connecticut publishes no separate endorsement, transfer or out-of-state approval process, and this page does not assert that one exists or that a particular out-of-state certificate has been accepted.

Verification is done at inspection rather than at a registry: “A certified food inspector shall verify that the food protection manager is certified upon inspection of the food establishment” (Sec. 19a-36i(c)), against the certification the establishment must keep on file (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(2)).

Conference for Food Protection accreditation, stated in statute. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) requires a program “evaluated and approved by an accrediting agency recognized by the Conference for Food Protection as conforming to its standards for accreditation of food protection manager certification programs.” The same formula is repeated in the residential-care-home exception at Sec. 19a-36m(d)(1).

Note what the statute does and does not name. It names the Conference for Food Protection standard and the concept of a CFP-recognized accrediting agency; it does not name ANSI or ANAB, and neither “ANSI”, “ANAB”, “accredit” nor “Conference for Food Protection” appears anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. The ANSI National Accreditation Board is the accrediting agency in practice, and the official Connecticut source that points to it is municipal, not state: New Haven’s health department links its “resources for Certified Food Protection Managers” straight to ANAB’s accredited-program directory.

Fees

• Regulatory fee: None. Connecticut operates no state or local application, registration or filing for the certified food protection manager, so there is no regulatory fee to charge. No fee provision appears in the manager statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i) or anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. The local fee schedule checked for this page (September 5, 2026) – New Haven’s Environmental Health Annual Fees, updated June 2026 – prices establishment licenses only (standard, catering, micro, temporary, itinerant vendor) and carries no manager certification line.
• Government certificate fee: None. Connecticut issues no government certificate, card or number for food protection managers, so there is nothing to charge for. Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7 never use the word “certificate”; the only document duty is to keep the accredited program’s certification on file at the establishment and produce it to the food inspector on request (Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(2)).
• Examination fee: Not set by Connecticut. The test is the accredited program’s own examination (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c)), and its price is the program’s. No Connecticut statute, regulation, DPH page or local health department page found for this page (September 5, 2026) publishes an examination fee for the certified food protection manager.
• Course price: None published by any Connecticut authority. Unlike states that publish a provider list with prices, Connecticut names no programs and quotes no course prices: DPH’s Food Protection Program pages carry neither, and the one official Connecticut pointer to eligible programs – New Haven’s link to the ANSI National Accreditation Board directory of accredited food protection manager certification programs – is a directory of accredited programs, not a price list. Any course price a reader encounters is a private provider’s, is not a Connecticut fee, and is not published by the state.

Renewal

None published by Connecticut. There are no state continuing-education hours, no state recertification course, no state renewal filing and no lapsed-certification procedure in Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 368a or in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. Recertification, where the accredited program requires it, is transacted entirely with that program. The only recurring Connecticut obligation attached to the credential is documentary: “Maintain such certification on file at the food establishment and provide such certification to the food inspector upon request” (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(2)), checked at inspection under Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c).

Grace periods and coverage

Replacing a certified manager. None published. Connecticut sets no grace period for replacing a certified food protection manager who leaves, and none for a change of ownership or a newly opened establishment. Searched: Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 368a Secs. 19a-36a, 19a-36b, 19a-36g, 19a-36h, 19a-36i and 19a-36m; and the full text of Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7 (subject-matter PDF from the official eRegulations portal, revised 2024-10-29). The word “days” does not appear anywhere in that regulation text, and neither the manager statute nor the manager regulation contains any renewal, expiration or replacement window.

What fills the gap instead is the alternate person in charge: 19a-36h-4(c) requires the owner or manager to appoint one in writing on a form prescribed by the commissioner for when the certified manager cannot be present – but only during non-peak hours of operation. That is a shift-level substitution, not a 60- or 90-day window to operate without a certified manager, and it must never be rendered as one.

Several establishments. Expressly prohibited – and this is Connecticut’s most distinctive manager rule. Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(3) requires the certified food protection manager to “[b]e a full-time employee, and assigned as the certified food protection manager to only one food establishment.” One person cannot serve as the certified food protection manager for two locations, and a part-time or shared manager does not satisfy the rule.

“Full-time” is defined for this purpose in Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-1(13): “a person normally employed and on duty not less than thirty hours per week on a regular basis, or the total number of hours the food establishment is open per week, if less than thirty hours.” A multi-location operator therefore needs a separate full-time certified food protection manager assigned to each Class 2, 3 or 4 establishment.

New establishments. None outstanding. The only dated milestone in the governing law is the direction in Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36h(a) that the commissioner adopt the FDA Food Code by reference “Not later than January 1, 2023” – a deadline on the agency, not on establishments, and one that is spent: the implementing regulations took effect February 17, 2023. That date was itself moved three times before it was met (P.A. 18-168 replaced July 1, 2018 with January 1, 2019; P.A. 19-118 replaced it with January 1, 2020; P.A. 21-121 replaced it with January 1, 2023), so older Connecticut material carrying any of those earlier dates is describing a superseded deadline. No phase-in period was given to establishments for the certified food protection manager requirement in either the statute or the regulation.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

Connecticut’s carve-outs are unusually specific and sit in three places.

By establishment class – Class 1 needs no certified manager. Only Class 2, 3 and 4 establishments must employ one (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c); Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(a)-(b)). A Class 1 establishment must still have a person in charge on-site at all times it is operating, meeting section 2-102.11 of the food code.

By statute – Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36m(c), verbatim: “The provisions of the food code that concern the employment of a certified food protection manager and any reporting requirements relative to such certified food protection manager shall not apply to (1) an owner or operator of a soup kitchen that relies exclusively on services provided by volunteers, (2) any volunteer who serves meals from a nonprofit organization, including a temporary food service establishment and a special event sponsored by a nonprofit civic organization, including, but not limited to, school sporting events, little league food booths, church suppers and fairs, or (3) any person who serves meals to individuals at a registered congregate meal site funded under Title III of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended from time to time, that were prepared under the supervision of a certified food protection manager.”

Where the Food Code does not apply at all – Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36m(d): a residential care home with thirty beds or less licensed under chapter 368v, provided its administrator or the administrator’s designee has passed a CFP-accredited food protection manager certification test (this falls away if the home contracts with a food establishment or lends, rents or leases space to another party for preparing or selling food); and the food code does not prohibit food sale or distribution at (A) an owner-occupied bed and breakfast with a total building occupant load of not more than sixteen persons, no cooking or warming in guest rooms, breakfast the only meal offered, and the consumer informed by advertisements, mailed brochures and a placard in the registration area that the food is prepared in an unregulated kitchen, or (B) a noncommercial function such as an educational, religious, political or charitable organization’s bake sale or potluck supper, provided the food is held at temperature, pH and water-activity conditions that inhibit microbial growth.

Outside “FOOD ESTABLISHMENT” entirely – Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36g: the term “does not include a vending machine, as defined in section 21a-34, a private residential dwelling in which food is prepared under section 21a-62a or a food manufacturing establishment, as defined in section 21a-151.”

Not an exemption: the alternate person in charge (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(c)) is a limited, written, non-peak-hours substitution for presence, not a waiver of the requirement to employ a certified food protection manager. A separate variance mechanism exists for food code requirements generally (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-2(b); Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(b)), granted case by case by the commissioner; no published variance from the manager requirement was found and none is asserted here.

Local rules

Not applicable in the county sense, and none found in substance. Connecticut has no county government; food establishments are licensed and inspected by town, city and borough directors of health and by regional health districts – DPH refers to “the 59 local health jurisdictions” and states that its regulations “are enforced by the local health departments/districts who issue licenses.” The permit to operate is issued by “the director of health of such town, city or borough” under Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(a).

That structure produces local variation in licensing procedure and fees – DPH says so directly (“Specific requirements and procedures may vary from town to town”) – but no local jurisdiction examined for this page (September 5, 2026) imposes a manager-certification rule different from the state’s. See the local rules section for what was actually read; see the “What the sources do not say” section for the limits of that check.

None found. The two largest local jurisdictions were checked directly.

New Haven – the New Haven Health Department’s food licensing page states that it works with owners and operators “to uphold the 2022 FDA Model Food Code and the City Code of Ordinances,” licenses food service establishments, itinerant vendors, caterers, temporary food service and micro-food businesses through CitySquared, and sets renewals “due yearly on May 1.” It publishes no city manager-certification rule; its only certified-food-protection-manager content is a link out to the ANSI National Accreditation Board directory of accredited programs. Its Environmental Health annual fee schedule (updated June 2026) prices establishment licenses only.

HARTFORD – the Health and Human Services department page routes food license applications to the city’s Accela portal (“Apply for Food License”). The page contains no occurrence of “food protection manager”, “ServSafe” or “food code” and publishes no separate city manager requirement.

What this does not establish: we did not read either city’s code of ordinances section by section, and we did not check the other 57 local health jurisdictions. Connecticut’s manager duty is set by state statute and state regulation, and a town cannot dispense with it; the open question is only whether some town adds something on top.

Posting and proof

Proof on demand, not posting. Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(2) requires the certified food protection manager to “[m]aintain such certification on file at the food establishment and provide such certification to the food inspector upon request.” The verification side is on the inspector: “A certified food inspector shall verify that the food protection manager is certified upon inspection of the food establishment” (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c)).

There is no requirement to display or post the certification for the public. The words “post” and “display” do not occur anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7. A second, separate written record is required for the alternate person in charge: the appointment “shall be in writing on a form prescribed by the commissioner” (19a-36h-4(c)), and noncompliance with that subsection is “a priority foundation item” the inspector must cite on the inspection report form (19a-36h-4(d)).

Registration with the state

None. Connecticut adds no government layer on top of the accredited program’s certification: no state or local registration, ID card, filing, number or renewal for the certified food protection manager appears in Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 368a or in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, and no DPH page operates one. The only government transactions in this area belong to the establishment, not to the manager: the local permit to operate issued by the town, city or borough director of health (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(a)) and, for the alternate person in charge, a written appointment “on a form prescribed by the commissioner” that is kept by the establishment rather than filed with the state (Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(c)).

Food code edition

FDA Food Code 2022, under a ROLLING adoption. Two facts have to be stated together or the answer is wrong.

(1) The adoption clause is dynamic, not edition-locked: Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36h(a) directs that “Not later than January 1, 2023, the commissioner shall adopt and administer by reference the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code, as amended from time to time, and any Food Code Supplement published by said administration as the state’s food code.” Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-2(a)(1) repeats the “as amended from time to time” formula. Connecticut therefore names no edition in its law.

(2) The edition Connecticut currently administers is stated by the agency: DPH’s Food Protection Program page says “The State of Connecticut uses the 2022 FDA Model Food Code, the Connecticut General Statutes, and the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.” The New Haven health department says the same and links the FDA’s Food Code 2022.

The practical consequence for this cluster: the person-in-charge and knowledge-demonstration standards Connecticut applies are the Food Code’s (section 2-102.11 is cited directly in Conn. Agencies Regs. Sec. 19a-36h-4(a) and (c)(2)), and a future FDA edition can change them without a Connecticut rulemaking. That makes the DPH page, not the regulation, the field to watch for edition changes. Adopting rule effective 2023-02-17 (Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, each carrying “(Effective February 17, 2023)”; DPH: “On February 17, 2023 the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies were amended by adding Sections 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7”). The statutory duty is older: Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i dates from P.A. 17-93 and its alternate-person-in-charge provisions were added by P.A. 18-168 effective July 1, 2018..

What the sources do not say

Sources checked for every field left as a negative: statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 368a, full chapter text from cga.ct.gov – Secs. 19a-36a, 19a-36b, 19a-36g, 19a-36h, 19a-36i and 19a-36m read in full) -> administrative rule (Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, full official subject-matter PDF from eregulations.ct.gov, revised 2024-10-29, plus the individual 19a-36h-4 document) -> state agency pages (CT DPH Food Protection Program main page, Regulations, Licensing and Complaints) -> local health authority pages (New Haven health department food licensing page and its June-2026 fee schedule; City of Hartford HHS). Absence is reported where it was searched: not found in these sources is not proof of non-existence.

• no term is stated. Connecticut sets no term, expiration or renewal cycle for the certification: the words “renew”, “expire” and “valid” do not occur anywhere in Conn. Agencies Regs. Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, and Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 19a-36i(c) states only that the person must have passed a CFP-accredited program’s test. Whatever term the certificate carries is the accredited program’s, not Connecticut’s. Putting a number here – 5 is the number a reader would expect – would attribute a private program’s term to Connecticut law. Note: this is a critical field and it is deliberately not stated.
• No replacement grace period. No 30-, 60- or 90-day window exists for replacing a departed certified manager, for a change of ownership, or for a new establishment. “days” does not occur anywhere in the seven regulation sections, and no such window appears in ch. 368a. The non-peak-hours alternate person in charge is a shift-level substitution, not a window.
• No state manager fee, application, certificate, registration, ID or number. “fee” and “certificate” do not occur in Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7; ch. 368a sets no manager fee; DPH’s licensing page operates no manager application. the application link is therefore the sentinel “none”.
• No state verification lookup or registry of certified food protection managers. Verification is done by the food inspector at inspection (Sec. 19a-36i(c)) against the certification kept on file at the establishment (Sec. 19a-36h-4(b)(2)); no searchable Connecticut registry was found on any DPH page checked.
• No passing score, proctoring rule, retake rule, language rule or exam validity window in Connecticut law – all are the accredited program’s.
• No course-hour requirement, which is why this page lists no training requirement: Connecticut conditions the credential on passing the accredited program’s test and imposes no course of any stated length. This is not a statement that training is unnecessary in practice; it is a statement that Connecticut imposes no training requirement of its own, and it does not mean “no training needed”.
• No approved-provider list, no reciprocity or endorsement process, and no out-of-state clause. Connecticut’s test is program accreditation, not state approval, so no such machinery exists to publish. No Connecticut state page found for this page (September 5, 2026) names a single certification program; the one official Connecticut pointer to eligible programs is New Haven’s link to the ANAB directory.
• No posting or display duty – “post” and “display” do not occur in the seven regulation sections. The duty is to keep the certification on file and produce it on request.
• No numeric ratio of certified managers to staff, seats or shifts.
• No future or pending Connecticut manager requirement was found in ch. 368a, in Secs. 19a-36h-1 to 19a-36h-7, or on any DPH food page checked. The dated milestone in the statute – “Not later than January 1, 2023” in Sec. 19a-36h(a) – is spent.
• Not covered by this page (as of September 5, 2026), and so not asserted: (a) a section-by-section read of the New Haven or Hartford codes of ordinances, as opposed to their published health-department pages; (b) any check of the other 57 local health jurisdictions; (c) a read of the repealed rules Secs. 19-13-B40/B42/B48/B49 themselves – their repeal is quoted from DPH’s Regulations page and nothing about their former content is asserted; (d) a read of the FDA Food Code 2022 text itself, so section 2-102.11’s contents are referenced by citation only and never paraphrased as a Connecticut requirement; (e) the DPH knowledge-base “Education and Training” article (the food-protection-program/education-and-training path 404s; the live path is portal.ct.gov/dph/knowledge-base/articles/food-safety/education-and-training) – nothing from it is asserted here.