Food Service Worker Certification

Why Why is the City of Carrollton requiring this certification? Food safety ultimately rests on the food service employees – from cooks, wait persons to cleaning crew. Food service employees are the ones in direct contact with the food, control cooking, storage times and temperatures, ensure cleaning and sanitization of food-contact surfaces and so on.

Why Why is the City of Carrollton requiring this certification? Currently only one Registered Food Service Manager is required to be on site during all hours of operation and are mainly involved in overseeing the operations of the business. We hope this will help to bridge the knowledge gap between the employee and the food manager. A survey of sixteen other surrounding cities and counties show that 75% of these surveyed organizations have a food handlers’ course.

Who Who will the City of Carrollton require to be certified? All employees including the wait staff, busboys, hostesses, etc., who work in a light food prep or heavy food prep establishment. Daycare establishments: All teachers that serve lunch/snacks in the classroom will be required to obtain a certification. Grocery store employees that work in the meat, seafood, deli, and bakery departments will be required to take the class. Those who are strictly cashiers, work in the pharmacy or in the dry goods area will not be required to be certified.

Who Who will the City of Carrollton require to be certified? Employees of a nonfood prep establishment will not be required to take the class. Any employee who is a Registered Food Service Manager is also exempt. This will not take the place of a Registered Food Service Manager certification. At least one Registered Food Service Manger will still be required to be on site during all hours of operation.

How How does someone obtain a food service employee certification? The City of Carrollton will conduct scheduled hour long classes. The class will consist of viewing a 30 minute DVD followed by a 20 question quiz. The employee must score at least 70% to obtain a certificate. An online informational packet will also be available to download. This may be used as a study reference. The certificates will be mailed to establishments.

Will Will the class be offered on site for large groups of employees? The city will, upon request, conduct a training class on site if there are 20 or more employees that need to be certified. The establishment will need to provide a meeting room and area to project the DVD on to, such as a pull down screen or blank wall.

What What is the timeline for certification? Classes will be offered beginning in November. Food establishments will have until February 1, 2009 to get all employees certified. Once the grace period has ended all newly hired employees will be allowed 15 days from hire date to obtain a certification. The certification will be good for 2 years.

When will the classes be offered?

Class Schedule The class schedule will be posted online at Please check the website for updates. To register for the course, managers will need to call to reserve a spot for their employees. The individuals taking the class will not be required to show photo identification, but they must have been pre-registered by the food establishment manager. Photos will be taken for attachment to the food service worker certificate.

How much How much is it going to cost to get certified? Fees will be included in the food establishment’s annual permit fee and will be rated according to the number of its food service employees. Fee charges will start with the 2009 annual fees.

Restaurants with 0 to 5 employees$50per year Restaurants with 6 to 10 employees$100per year Restaurants with 11 to 35 employees$250per year Restaurants with 36 to 75 employees$450per year Restaurants with 76 or more employees$625per year Breakdown of Fees

Advantages Advantages of the Fee Structure There is no limit to the number of food service employees an employer can send in for certification. Therefore, turn-over of employees should not be an additional burden to the business. Certified food service employees who are in need of re-training can be sent back without an additional cost to the business.

Advantages Advantages of the Fee Structure The annual fee includes reprinting certificates for an employee or establishment. Food service workers who do not pass the quiz the first time can take the course however many times they wish without additional cost or… The employee can make an appointment with one of the health inspectors to review the class material. The employee will then receive their certification.

Number of Total Employees Please pick up a form regarding your total number of employees before leaving. Once the form has been filled out please , fax, or mail it back to city hall no later than November 10, 2008.