Nash County, NC Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Sec. 14-28(a) bars any person from operating or being employed in a food handling establishment without an unrevoked, unexpired food handler's certificate issued by the county health director, and Sec. 14-28(b) requires every employee working as a food handler to obtain one. The environmental health section of the county health department develops and administers the food service sanitation course that certification requires, and no certificate issues until the individual completes that course (Sec. 14-29(a), (b)). A food handling establishment is defined broadly under Sec. 14-26 to include restaurants, coffee shops, cafeterias, school lunchrooms, delicatessens, meat markets, abattoirs, meat and poultry processing plants, and day care centers, covering anywhere food is prepared, handled or served for pay.

Certificates must be renewed at least every three years and are renewable within a 90-day window before the holder's birthday; a certificate issued to one person cannot be transferred to another (Sec. 14-28(e)). Sec. 14-28(c) ties certification to sanitation grading: an establishment holding a grade C for more than 30 days is in violation, and operating past that 30-day window without raising the grade to at least a B is a separate misdemeanor for each day of continued operation. The health director may revoke a certificate on evidence of violations of accepted food preparation, service or storage procedures, and a revoked certificate is not reinstated until the holder completes a refresher course (Sec.

14-30). A denial or revocation can be appealed first to the health director, then to the board of health, and finally to superior court (Sec. 14-31).