Pima County, AZ Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

050 sets the certification floor for Pima County food establishments, quoted below. 060, which forces immediate closure of an establishment for an imminent health hazard, a sewage backup in food areas, failure to dispose of sewage properly, more than an hour without power or water, inability to hold TCS foods at safe temperature, no working hand-washing facilities, a suspected foodborne illness outbreak, flooding, fire, or contamination by toxic materials, among other triggers. Short of closure, an establishment lands on probationary status after five or more priority or priority-foundation violations in one inspection, or a documented pattern of noncompliance, defined as three violations of the same priority item within five inspections or four violations of the same good-retail-practice item within six inspections, or for willfully obstructing an inspection.

060(C) gives the operator ten days to correct every violation, submit a written corrective action plan, send staff to a department-taught food-service worker training at the establishment's own expense, and pass a re-inspection. An operating permit that is not brought into compliance, or an establishment that never files the required corrective plan, is revoked outright, and an owner whose permit is revoked more than twice in three years cannot get a new one.