National City, CA Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Section 9.04.125 of the National City Municipal Code amends Sections 61.201 through 61.210 of the San Diego County food ordinance adopted in § 9.04.010. The operative rule is Section 61.205, Food Handler Training. A food handler is anyone employed in a business or establishment requiring a health permit who handles food so that clothing, body or body discharge might contact the food or its utensils.

Two compliance routes: a person must either possess a valid Food Handler Training Certificate, or work in an establishment under the supervision of a food service manager holding a Food Service Manager Training Certificate and possess a Food Handler Card. Under the second route a person can work up to ten calendar days without a card.

Certificate: issued by the Health Officer or a qualified person or agency the Health Officer designates, after a food sanitation training course of at least three hours taught by an approved instructor. The applicant must pass a proficiency test with at least a seventy percent grade. The course must cover microorganisms, sources of foodborne disease, foodborne diseases, food contamination, protection of food, control of disease spread, personal hygiene, the role of utensils and equipment, and dishwashing procedures. The certificate is valid for three years from issuance.

Manager certificate: a Food Service Manager Training Certificate requires a course of at least sixteen hours and a seventy percent test score, or an eighty-five percent score for people qualifying through a degree plus occupational experience. It does not expire by passage of time.

Food Handler Card: a certified manager can issue the card to employees who pass a test with at least seventy percent. Section 61.205(c) sets its validity at three years, or until the handler stops working at that establishment, or sixty days after the establishment loses a certified manager, whichever is earliest. Test and employment records must stay on the premises.

Employers: Section 61.206 bars any permit holder from allowing anyone to work as a food handler unless legally permitted under § 61.205. Under §§ 61.207 and 61.208 the Director can exclude infected handlers or close an establishment.