Laredo, TX Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Sec. 13-56 makes it unlawful for any food establishment operating within Laredo city limits to employ a worker who has not first obtained a food handler's certificate from the director of the public health department. The owner, manager, or person in charge must certify on a department-furnished form that every employee receives public health sanitation training during the first two weeks of employment, and the director may order employees retrained if they are not performing their duties hygienically. Sec. 13-58 sets the mechanics: an applicant must complete an approved public health department food service sanitation training course, after which the certificate issues for an effective period of two years from the date of issuance.

The department collects a $25 fee for the initial certificate and a $5 fee for a duplicate. Businesses that want on-site group training pay $250 per site, which covers the training, certificate issuance, application processing, and record maintenance. The department is required to keep a permanent record of every certificate issued, including the holder's name and issuance date. Sec. 13-59 backs the certificate requirement with a disease-control mechanism: it is unlawful to employ anyone in a food products establishment who lacks a valid certificate, and if the public health department cancels a worker's certificate, the establishment's failure to discharge or suspend that employee is grounds for revoking the establishment's own city food license.

Where the department has reasonable grounds to believe an employee may be transmitting disease, it can exclude the employee, close the establishment until the danger passes, restrict the employee to non-food-contact duties, or require medical and laboratory examination.