Portsmouth, VA Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Section 15.1-19 puts the certification burden on both employee and employer. Subsection (a) bars anyone from working in any capacity at a food establishment without first completing the health director's requirements and obtaining a food service employee or food service manager card, and subsection (b) separately makes it unlawful for an employer to keep an uncertified person on staff. To get a card, applicants may need to furnish information, submit laboratory specimens, undergo physical examination, or complete hygiene and sanitation instruction as the director requires; the director can issue a temporary card valid for no more than 30 days while that process is underway (§ 15.1-19(c)).

Cards issued by another Virginia city, county or organization are honored in Portsmouth until they expire, but only if that jurisdiction's requirements were equal to or stricter than Portsmouth's own, a call the director makes case by case (§ 15.1-19(d)). Cardholders pay a fee set by the director to the health department's cooperative budget (§ 15.1-19(e)), must produce the card for inspection on request (§ 15.1-19(g)), and must renew it by paying the fee and completing required training or testing before it expires (§ 15.1-19(h)).

Cards are non-transferable and remain the employee's own property (§ 15.1-19(i)). The director may waive the card requirement in writing for temporary special events (§ 15.1-19(j)).