Bartholomew County, IN Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)
Key Facts
- Certified staff required
- At least one per shift
- Certifying body
- County Health Dept. Environmental Health Division
- Renewal cycle
- Every two years
- Display rule
- Certificate shown to customers
- License link
- No license without certified employee
Summary
Every food service establishment in Bartholomew County must keep at least one certified food-sanitation employee on duty each shift. Section 110.03(B) requires the certificate, issued and renewed every two years by the county Health Department's Environmental Health Division, and bars the Health Department from licensing any operation that lacks one.
(B) All food service establishments must employ at least one full-time person per shift who is certified in food sanitation practices. ... Certificates must be renewed every two years and a certified person shall be recertified by the Environmental Health Division only after the person has again demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the principles of food sanitation of food-borne disease prevention. (C) The County Health Department shall not issue a license to any food service establishment that does not employ a person certified in food sanitation practices.
Full Breakdown
03(B) of the Bartholomew County Code requires that all food service establishments employ at least one full-time person per shift who is certified in food sanitation practices, making that person responsible for seeing that every employee on shift follows the food sanitation practices set by the State Department of Health. The county's own Environmental Health Division, inside the County Health Department, runs the instructional program that leads to certification and issues the certificate once a person demonstrates knowledge of food sanitation and food-borne disease prevention.
Certificates are not permanent: they must be renewed every two years, and recertification likewise requires demonstrating that knowledge again to the Environmental Health Division. The requirement has real teeth for licensing: under division (C), the County Health Department shall not issue a license to any food service establishment that does not employ a person certified in food sanitation practices, so a truck, restaurant or market cannot open without meeting this staffing requirement. The certificate itself is not just a filing-cabinet document, either; the establishment must display it in full view of customers.
Division (A) separately bars anyone with a known communicable or infectious disease from working at all in a food service establishment or food market until they are free of it.
Violations & Fines
Operating without a certified food-sanitation employee on every shift, or failing to display the certificate for customers to see, is a violation of Chapter 110 punishable under § 110.99: a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500 for a first offense and up to $1,000 plus as much as 90 days in jail for a second or later offense. It also blocks the Health Department from issuing or renewing the establishment's operating license.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every shift need a certified food handler in Bartholomew County?
Who issues the food sanitation certificate?
Can a restaurant get a license without a certified employee?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bartholomew County
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