South Dakota Food Manager Certification: valid 4 years

Quick answer

South Dakota requires at least one person in charge in each licensed food service establishment or mobile food service establishment to be a certified food service manager (ARSD 44:02:07:03), and has since 1997. Temporary food service establishments are exempt. The certification comes from an approved course, not the state, and must be renewed every four years.

Complete a minimum of eight hours of classroom instruction and pass a certifying test from an approved food service manager certification course.
A new establishment must have a certified food service manager as the person in charge prior to opening; the Department of Health requires the course before the physical onsite inspection.
Recertify every four years with a minimum of four hours of classroom instruction and a recertification test from an approved recertification course.
The regulatory authority may approve certification from another course or another state if documentation and course content are substantially the same.

Official cost: South Dakota charges nothing for the manager certification; the only cost is the approved course provider's own price.
How long: Required prior to opening for a new establishment. After a change of ownership, or when a certified manager leaves, the establishment has a 90-day grace period to put a certified food service manager in place.
Where to apply: Directly with an approved course provider listed on the Department of Health's Food Service Manager Training page; there is no state application.

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from the issuing board (official site) and last verified September 5, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

At a glance

Certified Food Protection Manager

Requirement: Required statewide
Who must hold one: At least one person in charge in each licensed food service establishment or mobile food service establishment must hold the certification (ARSD 44:02:07:03)… details below
Valid for: 4 years
Fees: South Dakota charges nothing for the manager certification. It issues no manager certificate, operates no manager application and sets no manager fee anywhere in ARSD chapter 44:02:07… details below
Approved training: South Dakota approves courses by equivalence to a named 1995 course, not by third-party accreditation… details below
Issuing agency: South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection (Food & Lodging Safety)… full text
South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection (Food & Lodging Safety). The rules themselves refer to "the regulatory authority," and the Department is directed by SDCL 34-18-22 to "adopt rules and regulations setting forth the minimum public health and safety requirements for lodging establishments, campgrounds, food service establishments, temporary food service establishments, or mobile food service establishments." Field work is done by four regional Food & Lodging advisors (Southeast, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest) plus the City of Sioux Falls Health Department, which the Department lists on its own Advisor Regions page.
Official site
Renewal: Every 4 years. ARSD 44:02:07:98: "A food service manager must be recertified every four years by attending a minimum of four hours of classroom instruction and passing a recertification test from an approved food… full text
Every 4 years. ARSD 44:02:07:98: "A food service manager must be recertified every four years by attending a minimum of four hours of classroom instruction and passing a recertification test from an approved food service manager recertification course that is equivalent to or exceeds the requirements as set forth in the 1996 ServSafe Serving Safe Food - Food Safety Review recertification course of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association."

Legal basis

ARSD 44:02:07:03 (Person in charge) creates the duty; ARSD 44:02:07:98 (Food service manager certification) sets what the certification is – 8 hours of classroom instruction, a certifying test from an approved course benchmarked to the 1995 ServSafe course, and recertification every four years. Both were adopted in 23 SDR 195, effective May 26, 1997, and both cite General Authority SDCL 34-1-17, 34-18-22 and Law Implemented SDCL 34-18-22, 34-18-25. Two further rules in the same chapter bear on the manager: ARSD 44:02:07:02 (Interpretation) ties interpretation of the chapter to annex 3 of the 1995 FDA Food Code, and ARSD 44:02:07:04 (Demonstration of knowledge by person in charge) sets the twelve-point knowledge demonstration every person in charge must be able to make to the regulatory authority. A citation caveat readers should know: one of the two "Law Implemented" statutes, SDCL 34-18-25, has been repealed – the South Dakota Legislature's own statute page for it reads "34-18-25. Repealed by SL 2019, ch 147, Sec. 1". The rules still carry the repealed citation. This does not disturb the rules: the other cited authorities remain in force – SDCL 34-18-22 still directs that "The department shall adopt rules and regulations setting forth the minimum public health and safety requirements for lodging establishments, campgrounds, food service establishments, temporary food service establishments, or mobile food service establishments" – and ARSD 44:02:07:03 and 44:02:07:98 are current published rules.

South Dakota requires a Certified Food Protection Manager (South Dakota requires a certified food service manager per licensed food service establishment, by administrative rule, and has since 1997). Every figure below is verified against the official source and dated.

The rule

South Dakota requires a certified food service manager per licensed food service establishment, by administrative rule, and has since 1997.

ARSD 44:02:07:03, verbatim: “The license holder must be the person in charge or must designate a person in charge that oversees all food service operations in the food establishment. A person in charge must be designated for each work shift. At least one person in charge in each establishment must be a certified food service manager. Prior to opening, all new food service establishments and mobile food service establishments must have a certified food service manager as the person in charge. Upon a change of ownership of a food service establishment or mobile food service establishment, a 90-day grace period from the date the ownership change takes place will be given to implement a certified food service manager as the person in charge. By July 1, 2000, all existing food service establishments and mobile food service establishments must have a certified food service manager as the person in charge. When a certified food service manager leaves an establishment, the establishment has a 90-day grace period to obtain another certified food service manager. Temporary food service establishments are exempt from the food service manager certification requirement.”

The rule took effect May 26, 1997 (23 SDR 195). The “By July 1, 2000” sentence is a spent phase-in for establishments already operating in 1997, not a future date.

The Department of Health restates the duty in its own words on the food-service licensure page: “Be sure to complete your Certified Food Service Manager (CFSM) course. ARSD 44:02:07:03 requires food service establishments to have a food service manager. This is required before the physical onsite inspection of your business.”

What it’s called

In South Dakota the credential is the certified food service manager (CFSM). “Food manager certification,” “food manager license,” “food safety manager certification,” “CFPM” and “ServSafe Manager” are informal names searchers use for the same duty. ServSafe is not the name of the credential – it is the course South Dakota’s rule uses as its equivalence benchmark, and the Department of Health lists more than a dozen other course providers that also satisfy it. It is not a food handler card: South Dakota issues no individual food handler card at all.

How this relates to the food handler card

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

South Dakota has no food handler card. Nothing in ARSD chapter 44:02:07 (Food Service Code) requires an individual food employee to hold a card, permit or certificate. Verified by reading the full chapter text (171,730 characters, read on September 5, 2026): the word “certificate” does not appear anywhere in the chapter, and the only certification duty in it is the food service manager certification at 44:02:07:98.

The manager certification is the state’s only food-safety credential mandate, and it is an establishment-level duty: “At least one person in charge in each establishment must be a certified food service manager” (ARSD 44:02:07:03).

A separate, non-certificate duty sits on every person in charge. ARSD 44:02:07:04 requires the person in charge – certified or not – to be able to demonstrate food-safety knowledge to the regulatory authority during inspections and on request, by answering to twelve enumerated points. That is a demonstration duty, not a credential, and it does not substitute for the certification at 44:02:07:03.

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

Quick facts

Requirement level: State-mandated — South Dakota requires a certified food service manager per licensed food service establishment, by administrative rule, and has since 1997
Duty shape: At least one certified manager per establishment
Who must hold it: At least one person in charge in each licensed food service establishment or mobile food service establishment must hold the certification (ARSD 44:02:07:03). The duty is on the establishment; the credential is held by an individual.

Read the rule precisely, because two things it does not say are easy to assume:

It does not require every person in charge to be certified. A person in charge must be designated for each work shift, but only “at least one person in charge in each establishment” must be a certified food service manager.
It does not require the certified manager to be present on every shift. There is no presence or per-shift-certification clause anywhere in ARSD 44:02:07 (full chapter text).

Timing: a new food service establishment or mobile food service establishment must have a certified food service manager as the person in charge prior to opening. The Department of Health places that earlier in practice – its licensure page states the CFSM course “is required before the physical onsite inspection of your business,” which is Step 3 of the four-step licensing process.

Presence rule: None published. ARSD 44:02:07:03 requires that a person in charge be designated for each work shift and that at least one person in charge in each establishment be a certified food service manager, but it does not require the certified manager to be on the premises at any particular time, on every shift, or during hours of operation. No presence clause appears anywhere in ARSD chapter 44:02:07 (full chapter text, 171,730 characters). The rule does not say that South Dakota requires a certified manager on duty at all times.
Minimum certified people: One per establishment. ARSD 44:02:07:03: “At least one person in charge in each establishment must be a certified food service manager.”
Certificate issued by: An approved food service manager certification course – not the state. ARSD 44:02:07:98 requires certification “from an approved food service manager certification course,” and neither that rule nor any other rule in ARSD chapter 44:02:07 provides for a certificate, card, registration or number issued by South Dakota (the word “certificate” does not appear in the chapter). The rule’s own Note points operators to “Courses offered by the Restaurant Division of the South Dakota Retailers Association, PO Box 638, Pierre, SD 57501.” The Department of Health publishes a longer list of course providers on its Food Service Manager Training page, presented “by agency”: ServSafe, National Registry of Food Safety Professionals, 360training.com, AAA Food Handler Training School, Above Training/State Food Safety, Cash-Wa Distributing, EduClasses/FMC Food Managers Certification, FoodSafePal, M&M Biz Solutions, Professional Server Certification Corporation, Reinhart Food Service, the SD Retailers Association, SuperSafeMark, Sysco North Dakota and US Foods - North Dakota. Providers are named because the Department names them, not as recommendations.
Regulator: South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection (Food & Lodging Safety). The rules themselves refer to “the regulatory authority,” and the Department is directed by SDCL 34-18-22 to “adopt rules and regulations setting forth the minimum public health and safety requirements for lodging establishments, campgrounds, food service establishments, temporary food service establishments, or mobile food service establishments.” Field work is done by four regional Food & Lodging advisors (Southeast, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest) plus the City of Sioux Falls Health Department, which the Department lists on its own Advisor Regions page.
Valid for: 4 years
Renewal: Every 4 years. ARSD 44:02:07:98: “A food service manager must be recertified every four years by attending a minimum of four hours of classroom instruction and passing a recertification test from an approved food service manager recertification course that is equivalent to or exceeds the requirements as set forth in the 1996 ServSafe Serving Safe Food - Food Safety Review recertification course of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.”
State fee: South Dakota charges nothing for the manager certification. It issues no manager certificate, operates no manager application and sets no manager fee anywhere in ARSD chapter 44:02:07. The only money in this credential is a private course provider’s price, and the Department of Health publishes several on its Food Service Manager Training page: Professional Server Certification Corporation – “train online for $59.95, then take the proctored final exam for $40,” re-certification “train online for $49.95; no proctor required”; Reinhart Food Service – “Cost is $136”; SD Retailers Association – “$125 for SDRA members and $175 for non-members”; M&M Biz Solutions – online course plus ANSI-approved exam “starting at $159.” Provider prices are the providers’ own and change without a rulemaking; they are not South Dakota fees. Separately, ARSD 44:02:07:98’s References give 1997-era coursebook prices ($50 plus $2.50 shipping for the 1995 ServSafe coursebook; $32 plus $1.60 for the 1996 review coursebook) – those are the rule’s incorporation-by-reference notices from 1997 and should never be presented as today’s cost.

Training and exam

A “certifying test” from the approved course. ARSD 44:02:07:98 requires “a minimum of eight hours of classroom instruction and passed a certifying test from an approved food service manager certification course.” The rule names no examination body, sets no passing score, imposes no proctoring requirement and specifies no time limit or retake rule – none of these appear anywhere in ARSD chapter 44:02:07.

What exists is provider-side and is published on the Department of Health’s Food Service Manager Training page: EduClasses/FMC’s exam is “proctored by Prometric Test Centers, ProProctor Remote Proctor, and EduProctor On-site Proctors”; M&M Biz Solutions offers “an ANSI-approved exam from home or at a Pearson Vue testing center”; Professional Server Certification Corporation charges $40 for “the proctored final exam” for initial certification and states that its re-certification requires “no proctor”; the SD Retailers Association’s online 8-hour ServSafe training requires that “a certified proctor or instructor must proctor the testing.” Those are the providers’ terms, not South Dakota’s.

Approved courses and the approval standard

South Dakota approves courses by equivalence to a named 1995 course, not by third-party accreditation. ARSD 44:02:07:98: a certified food service manager “must have had a minimum of eight hours of classroom instruction and passed a certifying test from an approved food service manager certification course that is equivalent to or exceeds the requirements as set forth in the 1995 ServSafe Serving Safe Food certification course of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.”

There is a discretionary route in the same rule, and it is also the out-of-state route: “The regulatory authority may approve certification from another food service certification course or from another state if documentation and instructional course content is provided which is substantially the same as that of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.” Note the two limits – it is permissive (“may approve”), and the burden is on the applicant to provide documentation and course content.

The Department of Health’s Food Service Manager Training page carries the operative list and says: “Administrative Rules of South Dakota 44:02:07:03 requires that at least one person on staff has passed an 8-hour food service training and certification program. Certified Food Manager courses to meet that requirement are listed below by agency; any questions should be directed to those agencies.”

The rule names no accreditation body. ARSD chapter 44:02:07 contains no reference to ANSI, ANAB, the Conference for Food Protection or any accreditation body (checked by full-text search of the chapter, 2026-09-05). The benchmark set in ARSD 44:02:07:98 is the 1995 ServSafe Serving Safe Food certification course of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association, with the regulatory authority free to approve another course or another state’s certification on documentation.

Accreditation does appear on the Department of Health’s provider list, but as the providers’ own descriptions rather than as a state requirement: 360training.com is described as offering “ANSI-accredited Food Handler and Food Manager programs”; EduClasses/FMC as offering an “ANSI (ANAB-CFP) Certified Food Protection Manager Exam proctored by Prometric Test Centers, ProProctor Remote Proctor, and EduProctor On-site Proctors”; M&M Biz Solutions as offering “an ANSI-approved exam from home or at a Pearson Vue testing center.” Other listed providers (Cash-Wa Distributing, Sysco North Dakota, US Foods - North Dakota, Reinhart Food Service) carry no accreditation claim on that page. An ANSI-CFP/ANAB-accredited program therefore satisfies South Dakota, but South Dakota does not require one.

Fees

Regulatory fee: None. No state or local application or registration fee exists for the manager credential: South Dakota operates no manager application. ARSD chapter 44:02:07 sets no fee of any kind, and the Department of Health’s Food and Lodging Licensure Fee FAQs page addresses only establishment licensure fees – annual and temporary licenses and their refund policy – and mentions no manager fee.
Government certificate fee: None. South Dakota issues no government certificate for food service managers, so there is nothing to charge for. ARSD chapter 44:02:07 never uses the word “certificate,” and neither Department of Health food-service page offers a state certificate, card or registration.
Examination fee: Not set by the state – the certifying test is part of the approved private course and priced by its provider. The only examination price the Department of Health publishes is Professional Server Certification Corporation’s: “take the proctored final exam for $40” (initial certification; its re-certification requires no proctor). Other listed providers bundle the test into the course price.
Course price: Private provider prices published on the Department of Health’s Food Service Manager Training page, as of 2026-09-05, verbatim: Professional Server Certification Corporation – “Initial certification: train online for $59.95, then take the proctored final exam for $40. Re-certification: train online for $49.95; no proctor required.” Reinhart Food Service – “Cost is $136.” SD Retailers Association – “The cost is $125 for SDRA members and $175 for non-members.” M&M Biz Solutions – online course and “ANSI-approved exam from home or at a Pearson Vue testing center starting at $159.” The Department publishes no price for the other listed providers, and these are provider prices, never state fees.

Renewal

A minimum of four hours of classroom instruction plus passing a recertification test from an approved recertification course benchmarked to the 1996 ServSafe Serving Safe Food - Food Safety Review course (ARSD 44:02:07:98). The rule sets no continuing-education hours beyond that four-hour course, no late or lapsed-certification procedure, and no state renewal filing – recertification is done entirely with a course provider. The Department of Health notes that several listed providers run recertification courses; Professional Server Certification Corporation’s is priced at $49.95 with “no proctor required.”

Grace periods and coverage

Replacing a certified manager. 90 days, in two situations, both stated in ARSD 44:02:07:03: (1) “Upon a change of ownership of a food service establishment or mobile food service establishment, a 90-day grace period from the date the ownership change takes place will be given to implement a certified food service manager as the person in charge”; and (2) “When a certified food service manager leaves an establishment, the establishment has a 90-day grace period to obtain another certified food service manager.” No grace period applies to a new establishment – it must have the certified manager prior to opening.

Several establishments. Not addressed. ARSD 44:02:07:03 is written per establishment – “at least one person in charge in each establishment,” “all new food service establishments and mobile food service establishments” – but the chapter contains no rule on whether one certified food service manager may satisfy the requirement for more than one establishment, and the Department of Health publishes no guidance on it. An operator with several locations should ask the regional Food & Lodging advisor rather than rely on an inference from the words “each establishment.”

New establishments. July 1, 2000 – spent. ARSD 44:02:07:03 gave establishments already operating when the rule took effect on May 26, 1997 until “July 1, 2000” to put a certified food service manager in place. It is a historical phase-in, not a pending date, and must never be rendered as a future deadline.

Who does NOT need this — exemptions

Temporary food service establishments, and only they, are exempt on the face of the rules. Both rules say so independently: ARSD 44:02:07:03 – “Temporary food service establishments are exempt from the food service manager certification requirement”; ARSD 44:02:07:98 – “Temporary food service establishments are exempt from the Food Service Manager Certification requirements.”

No other exemption appears in ARSD chapter 44:02:07 – no exemption by seating count, by menu, by prepackaged-food-only operation, by school or institutional status, or by size. The chapter also grants no waiver, hardship or substitution mechanism for the certification duty.

One structural limit rather than an exemption: the duty runs with the establishment license, so an operation that is not licensed under SDCL chapter 34-18 in the first place is not reached by ARSD 44:02:07:03. Chapter 34-18 carries its own licensing exemptions; they are not restated section by section on this page (as of September 5, 2026) (see “What the sources do not say” below).

An establishment that changes ownership, or that loses its certified food service manager, is not exempt – it gets 90 days to install another one (ARSD 44:02:07:03).

Local rules

None found in the Department of Health’s regional listing; we did not read the Minnehaha or Pennington county codes. Food service in South Dakota is administered statewide by the Department of Health rather than by county health departments: the Department’s Advisor Regions page lists four regional Food & Lodging advisors covering the state – Southeast and an Administrator in Sioux Falls, Northeast in Watertown, Northwest and Southwest in Rapid City – plus the City of Sioux Falls Health Department. No county-level food-manager certification rule was found for Minnehaha or Pennington county, and neither county operates a health department listed by the Department for food service.

None found in the sources we checked (the Department of Health’s Advisor Regions page and the City of Sioux Falls food-service inspections page); we did not read municipal codes section by section. The one municipal food-safety authority the Department of Health recognises is the City of Sioux Falls Health Department, listed on the Department’s Advisor Regions page at 521 N Main, Ste. A, Sioux Falls. The city’s own Food Service Inspections page states that its inspections enforce the state code, not a separate city standard: “Inspection scores are a means used by the City of Sioux Falls to ensure compliance with State Food Code requirements.” That page publishes no city manager-certification requirement, and it routes operators to the “South Dakota Department of Health Food License Application.” Rapid City has no separate food-service health authority in the Department’s regional listing – two state advisors (Northwest and Southwest) are posted at 221 Mall Dr., Ste. 202, Rapid City. What we did not do (as of September 5, 2026): read the Sioux Falls or Rapid City municipal code section by section (see “What the sources do not say” below).

Posting and proof

None published. ARSD chapter 44:02:07 imposes no duty to post, display or keep on file a manager certification – the word “certificate” does not appear anywhere in the chapter (full text), and the chapter’s only posting requirement concerns a consumer sign about reusing tableware at self-service. The Department of Health’s Food Service Establishment Guidelines PDF, linked from the licensure page, contains no manager certification or posting provision either.

The one proof point that does exist is procedural rather than a posting rule: the Department tells applicants to complete the CFSM course before the pre-licensing site visit – “This is required before the physical onsite inspection of your business” – so the regional advisor sees it at licensing. Do not render that as a requirement to display the certificate in the establishment.

Registration with the state

None. South Dakota adds no government layer on top of the course certification – no state or local registration, ID card, filing or number for the certified food service manager. ARSD ch. 44:02:07 provides for none, and neither DOH food-service page operates one. The only government transaction in this area is the establishment’s own food service license application (sddoh.safefoodinspection.com), which is the license, not the manager credential.

Food code edition

South Dakota has not adopted a modern FDA Food Code edition for this chapter. ARSD chapter 44:02:07 is a self-contained food service code, and its only Food Code link is interpretive: ARSD 44:02:07:02 provides that “Interpretation of the rules in this chapter must conform to the public health reasons given after the rules in annex 3, of the Food Code, U.S. Public Health Service, 1995, pages 1 to 69, inclusive, printed September 1995.” That is a reference to annex 3 of the 1995 FDA Food Code for interpretive purposes, not an adoption by reference of the code itself. The practical consequence for this cluster is visible in the rules: the manager benchmark is the 1995 ServSafe course rather than an ANSI-CFP accredited program, and ARSD 44:02:07:04’s knowledge demonstration is the 1995-era twelve-point list rather than the later Food Code CFPM formulation. Adopting rule effective 1997-05-26 (23 SDR 195, the source note carried by ARSD 44:02:07:02, 44:02:07:03 and 44:02:07:98 alike).

What the sources do not say

Sources checked for every field left as a negative: statute (SDCL ch. 34-18 via the Legislature’s statute API) -> administrative rule (full text of ARSD chapter 44:02:07, 171,730 characters, plus the individual rule pages) -> agency page (SD DOH food-service licensure, food service manager training, licensure fee FAQs, advisor regions, and the Food Service Establishment Guidelines PDF) -> the approved-provider list the agency itself publishes. Absence is reported where it was searched: not found in these sources is not proof of non-existence.

No state manager fee, application, certificate or registration. ARSD ch. 44:02:07 sets no fee and never uses the word “certificate”; the DOH licensure fee FAQ covers establishment licenses only; neither DOH food-service page offers a manager application or certificate. the application link is therefore the sentinel “none”.
No state verification lookup or registry for certified food service managers is published on either DOH food-service page; verification runs through the course provider that issued the certification.
No passing score, proctoring rule, retake rule or exam validity window in rule – ARSD 44:02:07:98 says only “a certifying test from an approved food service manager certification course.” Provider-side proctoring terms are published by DOH and are attributed to the providers.
No accreditation requirement – no occurrence of ANSI, ANAB or Conference for Food Protection anywhere in ARSD ch. 44:02:07.
No presence requirement and no posting/display requirement for the manager – neither appears in the chapter, and the DOH guidelines PDF has neither.
No multi-establishment rule – the chapter says “in each establishment” and is silent on whether one certified manager may cover several establishments.
No future or pending manager requirement was found in the chapter, on either DOH page, or in the rules’ source notes; the only dated milestone in ARSD 44:02:07:03, “By July 1, 2000,” is a spent 1997 phase-in.
Not covered by this page (as of September 5, 2026), and so not asserted: (a) a section-by-section review of SDCL ch. 34-18’s licensing exemptions (nonprofit organisations, bed and breakfast establishments, farmers-market produce, cottage food) – the South Dakota food handler page carries that list as of July 2026 and it is not restated here; (b) a read of the Sioux Falls and Rapid City municipal codes themselves, as opposed to the City of Sioux Falls food-service inspections page. Neither is asserted more strongly than stated above.

Frequently asked questions

Does South Dakota require a certified food manager?

At least one person in charge in each licensed food service establishment or mobile food service establishment must hold the certification (ARSD 44:02:07:03). The duty is on the establishment; the credential is held by an individual.

Read the rule precisely, because two things it does not say are easy to assume:

It does not require every person in charge to be certified.

How often must a South Dakota food service manager recertify?

Every 4 years. ARSD 44:02:07:98: “A food service manager must be recertified every four years by attending a minimum of four hours of classroom instruction and passing a recertification test from an approved food service manager recertification course that is equivalent to or exceeds the requirements as set forth in the 1996 ServSafe Serving Safe Food - Food Safety Review recertification course of the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.”

Does South Dakota charge a fee for the certified food protection manager?

South Dakota charges nothing for the manager certification. It issues no manager certificate, operates no manager application and sets no manager fee anywhere in ARSD chapter 44:02:07. The only money in this credential is a private course provider’s price, and the Department of Health publishes several on its Food Service Manager Training page: Professional Server Certification Corporation – “train online for $59.95, then take the proctored final exam for $40,” re-certification “train online for $49.95; no proctor required”; Reinhart Food Service – “Cost is $136”; SD Retailers Association – “$125 for SDRA members and $175 for non-members”; M&M Biz Solutions – online course plus ANSI-approved exam “starting at $159.” Provider prices are the providers’ own and change without a rulemaking; they are not South Dakota fees.

Which courses does South Dakota accept for the certified food protection manager?

Who is exempt from the South Dakota manager rule?

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in South Dakota.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: September 5, 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.