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

Section 6-2.06 of the Watsonville Municipal Code covers any person who engages in the business or work of handling food or food utensils in the establishments listed in § 6-2.01: bakeries, confectioneries, candy and ice cream factories, soda fountains, restaurants, hotels, groceries, meat markets, sausage factories, delicatessens and any other place where food or beverage is prepared for sale, stored, sold or otherwise disposed of for human consumption. A person not already working in food on the printed 1950 cutoff date must register as a food handler on the first business day after initially engaging in the work. Registration happens at any office of the Health Department of the City and/or County, and the worker applies for a food handler's permit.

This permit is a health clearance, not a training card. Under subsection (b), an applicant who holds a certificate from a licensed physician, or from an agency approved by the City and/or County Health Officer, showing no evidence of tuberculosis receives a permanent permit that expires one year from the date of the certificate. Under subsection (c), an applicant without that certificate receives a temporary permit that expires thirty days after issuance, and must submit within fifteen days to a chest X-ray examination by a private physician or an approved agency. If the result shows no evidence of tuberculosis, a permanent permit issues for one year from the date of that certificate. The Health Officer can require further tests when doubt remains, and an applicant found infected is denied a permanent permit. The section prints no food safety course or examination requirement.

Section 6-2.07 gives the City and/or County Health Officer power to revoke a food handler's permit, temporary or permanent, whenever in the Officer's opinion the public health of the City would be adversely affected by keeping it in force. The food handler can appeal to the Council, which can confirm, modify or overrule the Health Officer. The establishment itself needs a separate annual, nontransferable permit under § 6-2.01, and § 6-2.05 requires employers to keep up-to-date lists of the people they employ.