Last verified: August 2026. Confirm with the Minnesota Department of Health before paying for anything.
State requirement: No statewide requirement
Law: No state law · Authority: Minnesota MDH · Verified: August 2026
No card in Minnesota, statewide or in any county or city checked. The rule is a certified food protection manager.
State requirement: No statewide requirement
Law: No state law · Authority: Minnesota MDH · Verified: August 2026
Minnesota does not require food workers to hold a food handler card. There is no state card, no state exam for line staff, no fee and no registry. What Minnesota requires is that each licensed food establishment employs a Certified Food Protection Manager — an obligation on the business, not on you.
That answer is muddied by an unusually unhelpful piece of Minnesota statute: a section literally headed “Food handler certification” that has nothing to do with people who handle food. We cover it below, because it is almost certainly why you have seen conflicting claims.
Quick answer
- Do you need a food handler card to work with food in Minnesota? No. No Minnesota state law requires one.
- Does any Minnesota county or city require one? We checked the delegated cities and counties and the major metros. None require a worker card. Minneapolis offers free food handler training, but does not mandate it.
- What does the state actually require? That your employer employs a Certified Food Protection Manager, and that a person in charge is present whenever the place is open.
- Does the manager have to be there while you work? No. MDH says so directly. The person in charge does have to be present — but the person in charge does not have to be certified.
- What do you personally owe? Handwashing, and reporting certain illnesses and symptoms to your person in charge. Both are enforceable. Neither requires a card.
- What should you not pay for? A “Minnesota food handler card”. No such credential exists.
The statute that says “food handler certification” and does not mean you
If you search Minnesota law for food handler requirements, you will land on Minn. Stat. § 31.96, which is headed FOOD HANDLER CERTIFICATION. It reads:
“The commissioner may require certification of retail food handlers in establishments licensed under section 28A.05, paragraph (a) … A retail food handler licensed under section 28A.05, paragraph (a), shall comply with the requirements for the manager certification program under section 157.011, subdivision 2.”
Read plainly, that looks like a worker certification law. It is not, for two reasons.
In Minnesota law, a “retail food handler” is a business
Not a person. Minn. Stat. § 28A.05(a) classifies as food handlers those who “sell or process and sell food directly to the ultimate consumer” — grocery stores, convenience stores, bakeries, meat markets, vending operators. Section 28A.04 puts the licence on the person who engages in the business, not on employees.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture, which issues these licences, describes them the same way: it issues Retail Food Handler licences “to brick-and-mortar food establishments,” the application asks for the business legal name, DBA and Minnesota tax ID, and a Retail Food Handler licence “is non-transferrable” — if the business is sold, the licence does not transfer. Those are the properties of a premises licence, not a personal credential.
Even that section routes to the manager programme
Look at where § 31.96 actually points: to the manager certification programme in § 157.011, subd. 2, which directs the commissioner to “adopt rules for certification requirements for managers of food service operations.” So the statute headed “food handler certification” resolves, on its own terms, to the Certified Food Protection Manager — not to a worker card.
If you see a site citing “Minn. Stat. 31.96 — Food Handler Certification” as proof that Minnesota requires worker cards, it has read a business licence category as a job title.
What Minnesota actually requires of you
No card does not mean no rules. The Minnesota Food Code, Minnesota Rules chapter 4626, places real, enforceable duties on food employees personally. These are the ones that can be cited against you or your workplace.
Handwashing
Rule 4626.0065 is short and direct: “A food employee shall keep hands and exposed portions of arms clean.” Companion rules cover the cleaning procedure itself (4626.0070), when you must wash (4626.0075), and where (4626.0080) — handwashing sinks, not prep sinks or dish sinks.
Reporting when you are ill
Rule 4626.0040 requires your employer to make food employees “report to the person in charge information about their health and activities as they relate to diseases transmissible through food.”
What you must report:
- Symptoms — vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, and open or draining lesions containing pus on your hands, wrists or other exposed areas.
- Diagnoses — Norovirus, hepatitis A, Salmonella, Shigella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and other enteric pathogens.
- Exposure — suspected involvement in, or exposure to, an outbreak within the preceding 30 days.
Being sent home, or moved off food
Rule 4626.0045 puts the decision with the person in charge, not with you. They must exclude you from the establishment if you are ill with vomiting or diarrhea, and exclude you from working with exposed food, clean equipment and clean utensils if you are infected with a foodborne pathogen. They must restrict you if you have an uncovered open or draining lesion containing pus, or where an epidemiological investigation by the commissioner of health finds a transmission risk.
The practical version: in Minnesota, “I feel fine enough to work” is not your call to make once you have reported.
Training — a duty on your employer, not a card for you
Rule 4626.0035 item N requires the person in charge to “ensure employees are properly trained in food safety, including food allergy awareness,” and item O to ensure employees “are informed of their responsibility to report.”
This is a real obligation and inspectors check it. But note what it does not specify: no course, no provider, no exam, no hours, no renewal, no document. It can be satisfied in-house on a shift. It is a duty to train, not a mandate to certify — and misreading it as the latter is the second most common way Minnesota gets written up wrongly.
Person in charge and certified manager: the two roles people mix up
Minnesota runs two separate requirements that sound like one. Getting them apart explains almost every confusing thing you will read about the state.
The person in charge must be present, but need not be certified
Rule 4626.0025: “The licensee shall be the person in charge or shall designate a person in charge and shall ensure that a person in charge is present at the food establishment during all hours of operation.”
The standard that person must meet is knowledge, demonstrated on demand. Rule 4626.0030: “During inspections and upon request by the regulatory authority, the person in charge shall demonstrate knowledge of foodborne disease prevention, application of the hazard analysis critical control point principles, and the requirements of this Code” — across seventeen listed subject areas, from personal hygiene and allergens to time and temperature control.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture tells its own inspectors this plainly in its demonstration of knowledge handbook: “the PIC does not necessarily have to be a CFM if an adequate food safety system has been implemented.” Knowledge is assessed by observation and open-ended questioning, not by asking to see a certificate.
The certified manager must be employed, but need not be present
Rule 4626.0033: “A food establishment licensee shall employ a certified food protection manager (CFPM) for each establishment.” Employ — not station on the floor.
MDH states the consequence outright: “No, a CFPM is not required to be on site at all times food is being prepared and served, however there does need to be someone that has been trained in food safety present at all times.” That sentence appears in MDH’s assisted living food code FAQ — it is departmental guidance rather than rule text, but it states both halves of the structure in one line.
So the shift you are working may well have no certified manager anywhere in the building. That is normal and lawful in Minnesota. Someone trained must be there; someone certified must be on the payroll.
Minnesota’s Certified Food Protection Manager, in detail
This matters to you if you are being promoted, if you are opening a place, or if your employer has asked you to “get certified.” Everything here comes from Rule 4626.0033 and MDH’s CFPM requirement pages.
Valid three years — not five
“A certificate issued under this section is valid statewide for 3 years from the effective date printed on the certificate.”
Be careful with the five-year figure you will see quoted everywhere. National food protection manager exam certificates are commonly issued by the testing organisation for five years. That period is set by the certifying programme, not by Minnesota, and it has no legal effect here. You can hold a national certificate the issuer still considers valid while your Minnesota CFPM has lapsed. The number that matters in Minnesota is three.
Renewal is continuing education, not a re-sit
At least 4 contact hours of approved continuing education within the effective dates of your valid certificate. Renewal applications are accepted up to six months after expiration. This is genuinely unusual — most states make you take the exam again.
The deadlines
- 60 days from opening or reopening to obtain certification, if the establishment is running on the temporary arrangement the rule allows (one full-time employee who has passed an accepted exam within the past six months).
- 60 days to replace a CFPM who leaves.
- Six months — your exam certificate must be less than six months old when you apply to MDH.
Which exam counts
Minnesota accepts only examinations “evaluated and listed by a Conference for Food Protection recognized accrediting agency.” This is an accreditation standard, not a list of approved companies — any programme carrying that accreditation qualifies, and MDH points applicants at the ANAB directory rather than maintaining its own roster.
One consequence worth understanding: passing the accredited exam is not the end of it. Minnesota issues its own certificate on top of the exam, and it is the MDH certificate that runs for three years and must be displayed at the establishment.
Who is exempt
Under 4626.0033 item B: low-risk food establishments as defined in Minn. Stat. § 157.20; special event food stands; retail food vehicles, portable structures and carts licensed by MDA; and operations limited to non-TCS food, raw meat processing for consumer cooking, or heating specific precooked items. MDH’s fact sheet gives hot dogs and frozen pizza as examples of that last category.
Counties and cities: does anywhere in Minnesota require a card?
No. We checked the delegated cities and counties and the largest metros. Not one requires ordinary food workers to hold a card, permit or certificate. Every jurisdiction regulates at the manager level, through the state CFPM rule.
Hennepin County
Hennepin is the county people ask about most, and the answer is no. Hennepin County Ordinance 3 requires a Certified Food Protection Manager and says nothing about worker cards. Note also that Hennepin’s delegated authority excludes Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka and Richfield — those cities run their own environmental health programmes. None of them requires a worker card either.
Minneapolis — free training, not a requirement
Minneapolis is the single most misread jurisdiction in the state, because the city runs a programme it calls Food Handler Training. The URL says food handler training. The training is real. It is not mandatory.
The city’s own framing is permissive, not obligatory — the trainings are described as “valuable for” kitchen workers, servers and front of house staff. The only requirement Minneapolis states on its food safety pages is the state one: food businesses must have a Minnesota Certified Food Protection Manager.
- Level 1 — 30 to 45 minutes. Level 2 — 60 to 90 minutes.
- Free to staff of Minneapolis-licensed food businesses, through voucher codes the employer requests.
- $20 for everyone else.
- No expiry or renewal cycle is published — consistent with it being non-regulatory.
If you work in Minneapolis and your employer offers you this, take it: it is free, short and useful. Just do not let anyone tell you it is a licence, and do not pay a third party for it.
Everywhere else we checked
St. Paul (its own Chapter 331A food protection standards), Duluth, St. Cloud, Rochester and Olmsted County, Bloomington, Minnetonka, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Maplewood, Hopkins, Wayzata, Richfield, and Ramsey, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Scott, Carver and St. Louis counties — no worker card requirement in any of them.
A note on how firm that is. Minneapolis, Hennepin, Bloomington and Minnetonka state their manager-only position outright. For the rest, we established it from a validated search of each jurisdiction’s own code — meaning we confirmed the code index was actually returning results for that jurisdiction before treating a zero result as a zero. Silence in a code you have not confirmed is searchable proves nothing, and that is how “no requirement” claims usually go wrong.
But a Minnesota city or county could add one
This is worth knowing, because it means “no card in Minnesota” is a statement about today, not a structural guarantee. Minn. Stat. § 145A.05 lets a county board adopt public health ordinances “unless the ordinances are preempted by, in conflict with, or less restrictive than standards in state law or rule.” Stricter is allowed; weaker is not. Cities and towns are floored by their county in the same way.
MDH acknowledges the effect: “Some cities and counties in Minnesota may have more stringent food codes.” So the accurate claim is that the state requires no worker card and no local jurisdiction currently adds one — not that none ever could.
Which agency inspects your workplace
Minnesota splits food oversight three ways, which is why two people in the same trade can get different answers from different offices.
- MDH licenses restaurants and food and beverage service establishments under Minn. Stat. chapter 157.
- MDA licenses retail food handlers — grocery, convenience, bakeries, meat markets, taprooms, vending — under chapter 28A.
- Delegated cities and counties do the licensing and inspection themselves under agreements with the state, using § 145A.07 and § 28A.075.
As MDH puts it: “The location (city or county) of the establishment determines which agency will provide the license.” Delegated jurisdictions include Anoka, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, Stearns, Washington, Clay, Lake, Morrison, Nicollet, Todd, Waseca, Brown and Blue Earth counties among others, several regional community health boards, and the cities of Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Maplewood, Minneapolis, Minnetonka and St. Cloud. MDH publishes the contacts as a statewide PDF directory rather than a searchable list.
Whichever body it is, the rule they enforce is the same chapter 4626. Delegation changes who knocks on the door, not what they are checking.
Which Food Code edition Minnesota uses
Minnesota does not incorporate the FDA Food Code by reference. Chapter 4626 is a free-standing rule that reproduces and aligns with it — each part carries the FDA section number in its title. The alignment is with the 2013 FDA Food Code plus the 2015 Supplement, and the current chapter took effect 1 January 2019.
If you see Minnesota described as being on the 2017 or 2022 Food Code, that is wrong. And if you land on an MDH page that reads as though the rule revision has not happened yet — one is still live, at a URL ending 2009revision.html — you are looking at a leftover from an earlier cycle, not the current position.
What this should cost you
As a food worker in Minnesota: nothing. There is no card to buy, no state fee to pay, and no registration to file. If a site is selling you a “Minnesota food handler card,” it is selling a document with no legal standing in this state.
If you are going for the manager certification, the costs are the accredited exam and course (set by the provider you choose, commonly in the $60 to $180 range depending on format), plus MDH’s certificate application. Renewal costs you 4 hours of approved continuing education rather than another exam fee.
One thing genuinely worth having, free: if you work in Minneapolis, ask your employer for a voucher code for the city’s food handler training. It costs you nothing and it is a real course.
What to do
- If someone is asking you for a “Minnesota food handler card” — ask which rule they mean. There is no such credential. Most often the employer means their own onboarding training, which they are required to give you under 4626.0035.
- Learn your reporting duties. The symptom and diagnosis list under 4626.0040 is the part of Minnesota law that actually applies to you personally, and the part most workers have never been shown.
- If you are being promoted to manage — check whether the establishment already employs a CFPM. The rule requires one per establishment, and you may not need to be it.
- Before paying for any manager exam — confirm the programme carries Conference for Food Protection accreditation, then remember you still have to apply to MDH within six months of passing.
- Check who licenses your workplace — MDH, MDA, or a delegated city or county — using the MDH contacts directory above. That is who to call with a specific question.
If your employer asks for a card anyway
No Minnesota law requires a worker card. Employers often ask for training documentation regardless — an ANSI-accredited online food handler course costs $7–$15.
Minnesota at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Worker food handler card required? | No — nowhere in Minnesota |
| Certified Food Protection Manager required? | Yes — employed by the establishment |
| Must the CFPM be present while you work? | No |
| Must a person in charge be present? | Yes, during all hours of operation |
| Must the person in charge be certified? | No |
| Minnesota CFPM validity | 3 years, statewide |
| Renewal | 4 contact hours of approved continuing education |
| Deadline after opening | 60 days |
| Deadline to replace a departed CFPM | 60 days |
| Exam approval | By accreditation (Conference for Food Protection), not a named provider list |
| Food Code edition | Aligned to 2013 FDA Food Code + 2015 Supplement, effective 1 Jan 2019 |
| Cost to a worker | $0 |
| Can a county or city add a stricter rule? | Yes — none currently does |
Sources: Minnesota Rules chapter 4626; Minn. Stat. §§ 28A.04, 28A.05, 28A.075, 31.96, 145A.05, 145A.07, 157.011, 157.20; Minnesota Department of Health; Minnesota Department of Agriculture; City of Minneapolis. Every requirement above was checked against the rule or statute text, not against training providers.
Managing or supervising a Minnesota food establishment? See Minnesota Food Manager Certification.
Work across a state line?
Food handler rules follow the establishment’s location, not where you live. If you work in a neighbouring state, its requirements may be different:
- Wisconsin — no card required
- Iowa — no card required
- South Dakota — no card required
- North Dakota — varies by county
Frequently asked questions
Does Minnesota require a food handler card?
No. Minnesota does not require food workers to hold a food handler card. There is no state card, no state exam for line staff, and no fee or registry for individual food workers.
Does Minnesota also require a food manager certification?
Yes — but that’s a separate, establishment-level certification. See our Minnesota Food Manager Certification page for the details.