Santa Rosa, CA Public Health Rules: Food Handler Certification (2026)

070 sets the operating standards for Cannabis Manufacturing, and subsection E targets the food-safety risk of edible products specifically: every owner, employee, volunteer, or other individual who participates in producing edible Cannabis Products must be a State-certified food handler, and the manufacturer must keep that person's valid certificate number on record at the facility where the work happens. This sits alongside the equipment-safety rules in the same section: extraction equipment must be listed or certified by an approved third-party testing agency or a licensed professional engineer, approved by the City's Building Official and Fire Code Official, and recertified annually with an inspection report kept on-site.

and the County's health permit requirements, which the code describes as a system of overlapping safeguards meant to minimize foodborne illness, confirm employee health, verify manager food-safety knowledge, and set sanitation standards for edible product preparation. Together the two sections mean a Santa Rosa edibles operation needs three things before production begins: State cannabis licensure, individual food handler certificates on file for every person touching the product, and a Sonoma County Health Permit for the facility itself.