Norman, OK Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Norman City Code section 20-1006 bars anyone from working in a bakery, cafe, meat market, restaurant, or any other place where food is handled or served, paid or not, unless they carry a current and unrevoked work permit from the County Health Officer. The rule sits alongside section 20-1005, which separately bars a person infected with, suffering from, or carrying a contagious disease from working anywhere food is handled or served. Enforcement authority runs through section 20-1007: the County Health Officer can require physical, medical, and laboratory examinations of any applicant or permit holder before approving a food handling work permit, and must give the applicant instruction in approved sanitation and food-handling methods for the specific business before the permit is approved.

The Health Officer may also issue binding sanitary orders and regulations covering food-handling practices; those orders must be written, kept on file at the Health Officer's office for public inspection, and published in a newspaper of general circulation, after which they carry the same force as if printed directly in the Code. This individual work-permit requirement is distinct from the business-level Food Service Establishment License required of the restaurant or food truck itself under section 20-1008: a licensed establishment can still be cited if it lets an unpermitted worker handle food, and a worker can be cited independently of the business.

The requirement traces to Code 1976 section 13-807 and was carried into the current Code by Ord. No. O-7475-8 and Ord. No. O-0506-65, then readopted citywide by Ord. O-2223-23 on 2/28/2023.