Memphis, TN Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

§ 53-8-108, the Tennessee Department of Health's rules and regulations, and City Code Title 9, Chapter V, Article II, § 9-52-26. Section 9-52-26 in turn establishes that the sanitary-conditions article governing food service and retail food establishments, including mobile food units, is built on the state and local laws, rules and regulations referenced there, citing the Tennessee Retail Food Safety Act and the TDH and TDA rules chapters. In practice this means Memphis does not maintain a separate local food handler card or class; compliance for anyone preparing or serving food at a permitted establishment, mobile unit, push cart or temporary event runs through the state training and certification framework the health department administers, and county health department environmentalists check for it during the routine inspections required under § 9-52-8.

Because the county health department also issues and can suspend or revoke the underlying facility permit under § 9-52-7, a food handler compliance failure found during an inspection becomes a permit issue rather than a separate handler-card citation. Environmentalists review the inspection form's weighted deficiencies with the person in charge and require a copy be prominently displayed for public view, per § 9-52-8(B).