Los Angeles Food Handler Card: What LA County Requires

Quick answer: There's no separate Los Angeles food handler card. In the City of Los Angeles and the rest of LA County, you need the standard California Food Handler Card: pass an ANSI-accredited course and exam, with a score of 70% or higher, within 30 days of being hired. The card is good for 3 years, your employer has to pay for it and for your training time, and it works everywhere in California except Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.

This is general information, not legal advice. When in doubt, check with LA County Environmental Health or your employer.

Who Enforces It in Los Angeles

The LA County Department of Public Health's Environmental Health division inspects restaurants and markets in the City of Los Angeles and most of the county. Three cities run their own environmental health departments instead: Pasadena, Long Beach, and Vernon. The food handler card is a state requirement, though, so the same California Food Handler Card applies in all of them. LA County's own flyer puts it simply: California food handler cards are accepted everywhere in California except Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties, which have their own programs.

Who Needs a Card

All food employees who prepare, store, or serve food. The county's list includes servers, chefs and cooks, bartenders, and hosts who handle food; bussers and general managers may need one too. If you already hold a food protection manager certificate, you don't need a separate handler card.

Some workplaces are exempt from the card law altogether, including grocery stores, convenience stores, certified farmers' markets, temporary food facilities, school cafeterias, and licensed health care facilities. Our California Food Handler Card: How to Get Certified Step by Step covers the exemptions in detail, including when a grocery store deli counts.

How to Get Your Card

1. Ask your employer first

Since January 1, 2024, California law (SB 476) makes your employer pay for the course and exam, count the time you spend on them as paid work, and not require you to already have a card to get hired. Many employers have a provider they send every new hire to. If you pay out of pocket, keep the receipt and ask to be reimbursed.

2. Pick an ANSI-accredited course

Any ANSI-accredited California food handler course counts; LA County doesn't run its own. The county posts a courtesy list of accredited providers, and notes that the list isn't an endorsement. Our How Much Does a Food Handler Card Cost? Prices by State and Provider compares prices from major providers, most of which offer the course in Spanish.

3. Pass the exam

State law sets the format: the course and exam are designed to take about two and a half hours, the exam has at least 40 questions, and you need 70% to pass. It covers handwashing, cooking and holding temperatures, cross-contamination, cleaning and sanitizing, and food allergens. Try our free California Food Handler Practice Test first: it mixes questions on California rules with the core food safety questions every course asks.

Prefer to study by listening? "Food Handler Card Audio Cram," our own roughly 57-minute audio session from Kanti Press, walks through the core topics every food handler test covers.

4. Give your employer a copy

Your employer must keep a copy of each employee's card on file. The card itself belongs to you, so it goes with you to your next job anywhere it's accepted until it expires. Put the expiration date in your calendar: you renew by taking an accredited course and exam again.

What Inspectors Check

LA County's inspection guide spells out how the card rule is enforced. A food employee without a card is fine for the first 30 days after they're hired. After that, a missing or invalid card, or one that wasn't issued by an ANSI-accredited provider, is marked as a violation on the inspection report, and the directive is to get a valid card within 14 days of the inspection. If the restaurant sends a photo of the valid card before the re-inspection date, the violation can be treated as corrected without a re-inspection.

Food Managers in Los Angeles

Every food facility that handles unpackaged, potentially hazardous food needs at least one Certified Food Protection Manager, who can be the owner or an employee. The certificate lasts 5 years, and one person can serve as the certified manager for only one food facility at a time (side-by-side facilities under the same ownership, like a market's deli and bakery, count as one). A new restaurant or a new owner has 60 days to get one, and so does a restaurant whose certified manager leaves. If an inspector finds no valid certificate, the directive is to get one within 30 days. See our California food manager guide and How Much Does Food Manager Certification Cost? Exam and Course Prices Compared, and check yourself with our free Food Manager Practice Test.

"ServSafe Manager Audio Cram," also from Kanti Press, covers the manager-level material from the 2022 FDA Food Code in a listen-anywhere format.

Serving Alcohol Too?

A food handler card doesn't cover alcohol. If you'll pour, serve, or check IDs for alcohol at a restaurant or bar, California also requires Responsible Beverage Service certification within 60 days of starting: see our California RBS Certification: How to Get Your Alcohol Server Certification and try the free California RBS Practice Test.

Working Elsewhere in Southern California

Your California card works in Orange and Ventura counties and most of the state, but not in the three counties that run their own programs. If you take a job in the Inland Empire or San Diego, see our Riverside County Food Handler Card: How to Get Your Certificate, San Bernardino County Food Handler Card: How to Get It, and San Diego County Food Handler Card: How to Get It guides. Our California guide is also available in Spanish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Los Angeles County food handler card?

No. LA County and the City of Los Angeles use the standard California Food Handler Card, which you get by passing any ANSI-accredited course and exam.

How long do I have to get a food handler card in Los Angeles?

30 days from the day you're hired. After that, an inspector can cite the restaurant and give you 14 days to get a valid card.

How much does a food handler card cost in Los Angeles?

Nothing to you: California law makes your employer pay for the course and for your training time. Courses from major accredited providers list at about $7 to $15.

How long is a California food handler card good for?

3 years from the date it's issued. You renew by taking an accredited course and exam again.

Does my food handler card work in Long Beach or Pasadena?

Yes. Long Beach, Pasadena, and Vernon run their own health departments, but the card is a state requirement, and a California Food Handler Card is valid there.

Bottom Line

In Los Angeles, get the regular California Food Handler Card from any ANSI-accredited course within 30 days of being hired, have your employer pay for it, give them a copy, and renew every 3 years. Warm up first with our free California Food Handler Practice Test.

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