Abington, PA Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Article I of Chapter 88, adopted in 1933, governs physical examinations of food employees. Section 88-1 forbids food, confectionery and produce stores, dairies, and anyone vending or marketing milk, meats, fruits, produce or bakery products from employing clerks, salespeople, delivery workers or other handlers who suffer from trachoma, active tuberculosis of the lungs, open skin tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, open external cancer, barber's itch or any other communicable disease. Section 88-2 backs that up with a paperwork requirement: every covered employee must obtain a certificate from a reputable, registered doctor of medicine certifying they are free of the listed diseases before they can work, and the employer must file that certificate with the Health Officer at the Township Building within five days of the exam.

The certificate is only good for six months and can be revoked earlier if the employee's condition changes. Section 88-3 separately bars employing a known typhoid carrier once the Health Officer or a physician has given the employer written notice. The Department of Public Health administers the article and can inspect premises at reasonable times to check compliance.