Last verified: August 2026. Every requirement below is sourced to the North Dakota Administrative Code, the North Dakota Century Code, ND Health and Human Services, or the local public health unit named. Links are at the foot of the page.
State requirement: No statewide requirement
Law: No state law · Authority: ND DHHS · Verified: August 2026
No food handler card and no statewide manager mandate in North Dakota.
North Dakota is genuinely unusual. It requires no statewide food handler card — common enough — and it also requires no statewide food manager certification, which is rare. North Dakota is one of the few states that took the FDA Food Code and deleted the certified manager requirement from it.
But one part of the state does require a card, and it is the part most pages miss: if you work in food anywhere in the seven counties served by the First District Health Unit — Minot included — you need a food handler certification card. Here is the whole picture.
North Dakota food handler card: no state card — but one district requires one
North Dakota has no statewide food handler card requirement — and unlike most states, it expressly excluded manager certification from the code it enforces. The exception is the First District Health Unit, which covers a cluster of northwest counties and requires a food safety certification card from all food employees: $15, valid 3 years, required within 30 days of starting work. Whether anything applies to you depends entirely on which health district your establishment is in.
Looking for the food safety manager certification? North Dakota’s CFPM rules are covered on the North Dakota food manager certification page. This page covers the food handler card question only.
North Dakota deleted the manager requirement (the short version)
North Dakota adopted the 2017 FDA Food Code but struck out both manager paragraphs. NDAC 33-33-04.1-01 excludes § 2-102.12 (certified food protection manager) and § 2-102.20(B) (person in charge as certified manager). ND HHS put it plainly in its guide for food handlers: having a certified food protection manager on staff “is required in most states but is not currently in North Dakota’s Food Code.”
What survives is the person-in-charge rule: someone must be present during all hours of operation who can demonstrate food safety knowledge to an inspector. No certificate is required for that role.
If you or your employer want the credential anyway, the exams, costs and where ND certificates are still asked for are on our North Dakota food manager certification page.
First District Health Unit: the one place in North Dakota that requires a card
This is the part of the North Dakota answer that matters most to workers, and it is routinely either missed or attributed to the wrong cities.
The First District Health Unit licenses and inspects food establishments in seven counties: Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, McLean, Renville, Sheridan and Ward — Ward County includes Minot. In those counties, and only those, food employees must hold a certification card.
FDHU’s own wording on who is covered:
Those employees at licensed food establishments that cook food, prepare or handle food, or that wash dishes or clean food contact equipment are required to complete an approved food safety course.
All Food Employees who work in a food establishment within the First District Health Unit region must take an approved food safety course every 3 years.
The certification card must be on premises while individual is working.
What it costs and how to get it
- Cost: $15, non-refundable, for the in-person class. FDHU also runs a free online course — eight video modules followed by a proctored test by appointment.
- Valid for: 3 years. “Certification is good for 3 years (must complete and pass exam).”
- Deadlines: managerial and supervisory employees, before performing any supervisory tasks. Regular food employees at non-seasonal establishments, within 30 days of starting work. Seasonal and mobile workers, before performing any food handling tasks.
- Carry it: the card must be on the premises while you are working.
- Which courses count: FDHU’s own “Food Safety for Food Service Employees,” Tacoma-Pierce County’s “Do It Right, Serve It Safe!”, or an ANSI-accredited programme.
- Temporary events: a separate free course covers establishments operating 14 days or less at a single event.
In-person classes run in Minot at 4:00 pm on set dates through the year. If you are starting a food job in Minot, this is a real obligation with a real deadline — not an optional extra.
First District also adds a manager rule
Separately from the worker card, FDHU requires a certified food protection manager at risk level 2 and above establishments with 10 or more food employees, and recommends one elsewhere. That is a genuine local addition — the state requires no manager certification at all, so this exists only because First District adopted it.
Everywhere else: no card, including Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks
This needs saying directly, because the three largest cities are often named as places where food handler training is required. None of them requires it.
- Fargo and West Fargo — Fargo Cass Public Health licenses both, and answers the question in its own FAQ: “While having a CFPM is strongly encouraged, it is not a current requirement.” No worker card, no worker registration, no local class.
- Bismarck — Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health imposes no food handler card and no mandatory worker training. It has run an occasional voluntary food safety course, but nothing on its own pages requires anything of individual workers.
- Grand Forks — Grand Forks Public Health publishes a “Food Manager Courses” link under a “Useful Information” heading, pointing to ANSI-accredited programmes. That is a resource pointer, not a mandate, and nothing on the page is worker-facing. No card, no health card, no registration, no local class.
Also checked and clear: Mandan and the Western Plains counties, Williston (Upper Missouri), Dickinson (Southwestern), Jamestown (Central Valley), Devils Lake (Lake Region, which returned food licensing to the state on 1 January 2024) and Wahpeton. None requires a worker credential.
Why only eight jurisdictions can require anything
North Dakota has roughly 29 local public health units, but only eight hold delegated food licensing authority. The rest have no food regulatory role at all — ND HHS Food and Lodging licenses and inspects in their areas, so they could not impose a worker credential even if they wanted to.
The eight, per ND HHS’s own jurisdiction list: Bismarck Burleigh Public Health, Central Valley District Health, Fargo Cass Public Health, First District Health Unit, Grand Forks Public Health, Southwestern District Health Unit, Upper Missouri District Health Unit, and Western Plains Public Health.
The mechanism is a waiver rather than a grant. NDCC 23-09-16: “The department shall waive the license requirement for any food establishment… licensed by a city or district health unit if the local health unit’s sanitation, safety, and inspection rules are approved by the department.” ND HHS implements it through memoranda of understanding with those eight units.
Can a local unit require more than the state?
Yes — First District proves it, and the statutory structure permits it. Worth being precise about why, because it is easy to overstate.
North Dakota’s food chapter does contain a preemption sentence, but read it carefully. NDCC 23-09-02: “Under no circumstances may any other state agency adopt rules that relate in any way to the provisions of this chapter.” That binds state agencies. Cities, counties and district health units are not state agencies, and the sentence does not reach them. There is no uniformity clause and no local preemption in the chapter.
Meanwhile local boards of health hold express rulemaking power under NDCC 23-35-08, and the waiver provision above presupposes that a local unit has “its own” rules for the department to approve. ND HHS itself says food handler training and manager certification are “not required in North Dakota Food Code but may be required in some areas of the state,” and tells readers to contact their local public health agency.
The contrast that settles it: when North Dakota did want to stop local rules, it said so plainly. The cottage food chapter, NDCC 23-09.5, provides that “a state agency or political subdivision may not require licensure, permitting, certification, inspection, packaging, or labeling.” No equivalent sentence appears in the food establishment chapter.
What you will actually be asked to sign
North Dakota is one of the states that does use a signed employee health agreement — unlike Arkansas, Nevada or Michigan, which use looser “inform them somehow” standards. ND HHS publishes a Food Employee Reporting Agreement citing section 33-33-04.1 of the North Dakota Food Code, and it carries two signature lines: the applicant or food employee, and the permit holder’s representative.
By signing it you agree to report to the person in charge:
- Symptoms: diarrhoea, vomiting, jaundice, sore throat with fever, and lesions containing pus on the hand, wrist or an exposed body part.
- Diagnoses: Norovirus, typhoid fever (Salmonella Typhi), salmonellosis, shigellosis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, and hepatitis A.
It is free, it takes a minute, and outside First District it is the only food-safety paperwork most North Dakota workers will ever complete. If you were expecting to be sent off to buy a card, this is the thing that was actually required.
One note on that form: it still carries the old North Dakota Department of Health branding and a superseded health.nd.gov address, left over from the reorganisation into Health and Human Services. The substance is current and correct; only the letterhead is out of date.
Allergens: nothing required
North Dakota has no allergen training requirement and no allergen poster or menu-notice requirement. The only allergen provision is that major food allergens are one of the topics the person in charge may be questioned on during the demonstration-of-knowledge process, plus the ordinary federal rule that allergens must be declared on packaged food labels. There is no North Dakota allergen certification to buy.
Outside the First District Health Unit
Outside the seven First District counties, North Dakota requires no card and employers may still ask for training — an ANSI-accredited online food handler course costs $7–$15. Inside First District, including Minot, you need the $15 district card instead.
North Dakota at a glance
| Statewide worker card? | No |
| Statewide manager certification? | No — FDA Food Code ¶¶ 2-102.12 and 2-102.20(B) are expressly excluded |
| The one exception | First District Health Unit — Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, McLean, Renville, Sheridan, Ward (Minot). All food employees need a card |
| First District card | $15 in person, or free online · valid 3 years · within 30 days of hire · carried on premises |
| Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks | No worker card, no manager mandate |
| Person in charge | Must be present during all hours of operation and demonstrate knowledge at inspection — certification not required |
| Cost to a worker | $0 statewide; $15 in First District |
| Establishment licence | $50–$310 a year by type, plus $100 first-application fee |
| Employee health | A signed Food Employee Reporting Agreement — free |
| Allergens | No training and no posting requirement |
| Food Code | FDA 2017 Model Food Code and Supplement, effective 1 Jan 2018, amended 1 Jan 2024 |
| Governing rules | NDAC 33-33-04.1; NDCC ch. 23-09 |
| Regulator | ND Health and Human Services, with 8 of ~29 local units holding delegated authority |
Food handler card requirements by city — North Dakota
Outside the seven-county First District Health Unit area, no North Dakota city requires a food handler card. Here is what that means for the state’s major cities:
Fargo and West Fargo (Cass County)
No food handler card is required. Cass County is not part of the First District Health Unit. Food workers in Fargo and West Fargo — including in the downtown corridor, the West Acres area, and all surrounding neighborhoods — are not required to hold any food safety card. West Fargo operates its own city health services but imposes no worker card requirement.
Bismarck and Mandan (Burleigh and Morton counties)
No food handler card is required in either city. Burleigh County (Bismarck) and Morton County (Mandan) are outside the First District coverage area. The Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health department licenses food establishments but does not require individual food worker certification.
Grand Forks (Grand Forks County)
No food handler card is required. Grand Forks County Public Health operates independently and has not adopted a food worker card requirement. This applies to all food service workers in Grand Forks, including those working near the University of North Dakota.
Dickinson (Stark County)
No food handler card is required. Stark County is not part of the First District Health Unit. The Southwest District Health Unit serves this area and has no individual food worker card requirement.
Williston (Williams County)
No food handler card is required. Williams County is outside the First District coverage area. The Upper Missouri District Health Unit serves Williston but imposes no worker card requirement.
Jamestown (Stutsman County) and Devils Lake (Ramsey County)
No food handler card is required in either city. Both counties fall outside the First District area. The Southeast and Northeast district health units respectively serve these areas without imposing individual food worker permit requirements.
Minot and the First District area
Minot (Ward County) is the largest city covered by the First District Health Unit. If you work in food service in Minot, you need a food safety certification card — $15, valid 3 years, within 30 days of hire. See the First District section above for full details.
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:
- Minnesota — no card required
- South Dakota — no card required
- Montana — no card required
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a food handlers card in North Dakota?
Only if you work in the seven counties covered by the First District Health Unit — Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, McLean, Renville, Sheridan or Ward, which includes Minot. There you need a certification card within 30 days of starting, valid 3 years, carried on the premises. Everywhere else in North Dakota, including Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks, no card is required.
Do I need a food handlers card in Minot?
Yes. Minot is in Ward County, inside the First District Health Unit region. All food employees who cook, prepare or handle food, or wash dishes or clean food contact equipment, must complete an approved food safety course. FDHU’s own course costs $15 in person or is free online, and the card lasts 3 years.
Is food handler certification required in North Dakota?
Not by the state. ND HHS says food handler training “is not required in North Dakota Food Code but may be required in some areas of the state.” The area it means is First District. Everywhere else it is a recommendation, and employers may of course ask for it as their own policy.
Does North Dakota require a certified food protection manager?
No — and this genuinely surprises people, because most states do. North Dakota’s rule expressly excludes the two FDA Food Code paragraphs that create the requirement. What the state requires instead is a person in charge, present during all hours of operation, who can demonstrate food safety knowledge to an inspector. First District Health Unit does require a certified manager at larger, higher-risk establishments in its seven counties.
What is a food handlers licence?
It is not a term North Dakota uses. Licences in North Dakota attach to establishments, not workers — your employer holds one. What individuals hold, where anything is required at all, is a certification card, and only in First District.
How much does it cost?
Nothing anywhere in North Dakota except First District, where FDHU’s in-person class is $15 and its online course is free. The state charges individual workers nothing at all, because it issues them nothing.
Who do I contact about my own situation?
If you are in one of the eight delegated areas — Bismarck Burleigh, Central Valley, Fargo Cass, First District, Grand Forks, Southwestern, Upper Missouri or Western Plains — contact that unit. Everywhere else, ND HHS Food and Lodging licenses and inspects, so contact them.
Official sources
- ND HHS — Food and Lodging
- ND HHS — Food Safety Training (states that neither food handler training nor CFPM is required by the ND Food Code)
- ND HHS — Areas of licensing jurisdiction (which eight local units hold delegated authority)
- NDAC 33-33-04.1 — North Dakota Food Code (PDF — the adoption and the two exclusions)
- NDAC 33-33-08 — Food establishment licence fees (PDF)
- NDCC ch. 23-09 — Food and lodging establishments (PDF)
- First District Health Unit — Food Safety Certification (the one North Dakota worker card)
- First District Health Unit — Food Establishment Licensing
- Fargo Cass Public Health — Food and Beverage (“strongly encouraged… not a current requirement”)
- Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health — Food Establishments
- Grand Forks Public Health — Food Safety
- ANAB — accredited food protection manager certification bodies
This guide is general information, not legal advice. North Dakota HHS and your local public health unit are the final word.
Running an establishment? See North Dakota Food Manager Certification.