- Built by Registered Dietitians and Certified Dietary Managers
Food manager certification and food handler card requirements for nursing homes, by state
Nearly every state requires food handler training or food manager certification for dietary departments. Find your state, or certify staff across several at once.
Train, test, and certify online — no testing center. Operating in more than one state? Request pricing and we’ll work it out with you.
Food manager certification
Most states require this for the kitchen regardless of what else your dietary staff hold. Some require someone certified present whenever you’re operating.
- Recognized by health departments nationwide
- A CDM or RD credential is a separate thing
Food handler training
Required for cooks, dietary aides, and anyone else handling food — usually within a set number of days from hire.
- About 90 minutes, fully online
- Certificate issued the moment they finish
The short version
Two requirements. Both look different depending on your state.
One may cover the director of food and nutrition services. The other covers everyone else who touches food.
Does anyone need it if your director is already a Certified Dietary Manager (CDM) or Registered Dietitian (RD)?
In many states a food protection manager certification is required for the kitchen regardless of what other credentials your dietary staff hold — a CDM or an RD license doesn’t always satisfy it.
A few states go further and name a second role, such as a cook, or require someone certified to be present whenever the kitchen is operating rather than simply on the payroll. That’s the difference between certifying one person and certifying three.
Your state page says which of these applies to you.
Can you show every dietary employee is trained in food safety?
Whether it’s written into the state code or checked at survey, your facility needs to show that everyone who handles food has received food safety training — after hire, and kept current. The specifics vary by state: the window after hire, whether it must be renewed annually, and whether the course has to come from an accredited program.
An accredited food handler course checks all three: trained, documented, and current.
Find your state
Requirements where your facility is
Not sure which rules apply to your facility, or operating in more than one state? Request pricing and we’ll work it out with you.
For groups and management companies
Certify staff across every facility you run
One accredited credential, recognized in every state — so you’re not managing a different vendor in each market.
Certify a group
Pick how many seats you need of each and check out in minutes — one quick order for manager seats, one for handler seats. Flat discounted per-seat pricing, the same rate at 2 seats or 100. No quote request, no waiting on a reply.
- Food manager training + examEverything needed to study, test, and get certified in one go $149/seat
- Exam onlyFor staff already trained elsewhere $95/seat
- Food handler seatsIts own quick order — same self-serve checkout $13.50/seat
- Managing bothOne login — both appear under “My Companies,” seats assigned by email Simple
Need a purchase order or invoice? Request pricing →
Train and certify
Instant access · Certified the moment you pass · Valid 5 years
- Full training covering every exam topic, self-paced
- 75-question practice exam with answers revealed
- Live online proctor included — no extra fee
- Two attempts included
Recertifying and don’t need the course? Exam only, $99
You buy the seats
Seats don’t expire — buy them now, assign them whenever someone needs one.
You assign them
Add staff by email and they get access immediately. Reassign a seat if someone leaves before using it.
They train and test on shift or at home
Self-paced on any device, with a live online proctor for manager exams — no testing center.
You get the certificates
Downloadable the moment they pass, with printed copies available for your records.
Why facilities choose FoodSafePal
Accepted, verifiable, and built for your setting
What actually matters when you’re the one answering for it at survey.
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Your inspector will accept it
Both credentials are nationally accredited under the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) standards. This national accreditation is what your surveyors expect to see.
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Two attempts included, every seat
Training is self-paced with a full practice exam, and every food manager and food handler purchase includes two exam attempts — so one bad morning doesn’t cost you a seat.
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Certificates verify online, years later
Every certificate carries a unique number that can be verified in seconds. When a surveyor asks about a credential issued three years ago, you’re not hunting through a filing cabinet or hoping a vendor still answers email.
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It was built for your setting
Developed by a registered dietitian nutritionist with senior living dietary experience, working with an advisory board of certified dietary managers who run food service in long-term care — not adapted from restaurant training.
Start with your state
Find what your state requires, then certify the people who need it — without anyone leaving the building.
Operating in more than one state, or not sure how many people you need certified? Request pricing and we’ll work it out with you.
Certifying for a restaurant or retail food establishment instead? See our food manager certification pages.