Ridgewood, NJ Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

Article VII of Chapter 156, added in 1975 by Ord. No. 1558, sets up Ridgewood's food-handler certification system. Section 156-57A requires each person engaged in the Village in the business of preparing, selling or processing exposed food to obtain a food-handler's certificate and conspicuously display it within the establishment. Section 156-58 requires the certificate to come from the Department of Health upon successful completion of a course covering health education, sanitation, personal hygiene, food poisoning, dishwashing procedures, insects, rodents and related matters, and § 156-58B gives new food handlers three months from the date of hire to attend that course; anyone who fails the course must reapply for the next scheduled session in the Village, the county or any other municipality offering certification.

The Department maintains a list of approved instructors and agencies under § 156-59, available for public inspection during normal business hours. Certificates are nontransferable under § 156-64: no holder may give, loan, transfer or sell the certificate to another person. 1, added in 2000, requires certified handlers to reattend a course every five years. 2 adds a stricter layer for repeat problem establishments: any food establishment that fails its health inspection two consecutive times within one year must send its managers and supervisors to a twenty-hour food manager's certification course offered by the County Department of Health Services.

3, the Department of Health cites the establishment and holds a hearing on revoking its license to operate. Section 156-61 lets the Department revoke any certificate for cause after notice and a hearing.