New Britain, CT Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Section 10-15 of the Code of Ordinances, part of the self-service foods provisions in Chapter 10, Food and Food Establishments, defines a trained food handler as one who undergoes a training program and has basic knowledge and skills in temperature control, food handling and food sanitation. Subsection (c)(2) requires that any time/temperature control for safety food, defined to include raw or heat-treated animal foods and cut produce capable of supporting pathogen growth, be prepared, served or packaged by such a trained handler whenever it is made available for consumption, including in self-service displays.

The board of health may excuse an establishment from this requirement only if the operator shows it will satisfactorily comply with the board's rules governing the display and handling of potentially hazardous food, and TCS foods generally may not be offered in self-service containers at all absent a similar board-granted exception under subsection (c)(1). The section also incorporates every standard and regulation the State of Connecticut has adopted or later adopts for self-service foods. Any food establishment operating in the city must separately hold an annual license from the health department under section 10-36, and the director of health can revoke or suspend that license after notice and hearing for violating any ordinance or state sanitation regulation, per section 10-39.