Texas requires every food employee, except the certified food protection manager, to finish an accredited food handler course within 30 days of employment (25 TAC §228.31(d)). “Accredited” means approved by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) or by ANSI. A card with no expiration date printed on it is good for two years, and it’s valid anywhere in Texas.
Many course sellers still advertise a 60-day deadline from an older version of the rule. The current rule text and the DSHS food handler FAQ both say 30 days.
Texas DSHS pages and Texas Administrative Code checked October 24, 2026.
How to tell if a Texas food handler course is accredited
DSHS says every accredited card or certificate must show three things: the program’s name, its address, and either a DSHS accreditation license number or the ANSI mark. If one of those is missing, check the course before you pay.
- DSHS keeps separate lists of accredited classroom programs, online programs and private programs run by a business for its own staff.
- An ANSI-accredited course counts too, including a card earned in another state.
- Under 25 TAC §229.178, a certificate from a DSHS-accredited program is valid for two years and must be recognized statewide.
Who needs a Texas food handler card and who is exempt
A food employee is anyone who works with unpackaged food, food equipment or utensils, or surfaces that touch food.
DSHS lists these groups as exempt outright:
- a certified food manager,
- a food establishment that serves only prepackaged items,
- a temporary food establishment in DSHS jurisdiction.
These groups are exempt only while supervised by someone with a food handler card or a food manager certificate: volunteers, people in rehabilitation or correctional programs who work with food, caregivers who help with daily living, staff handing out pre-portioned food in classrooms or day care, and individuals with an intellectual disability.
What Texas cities and counties can add to the food handler rule
In many Texas cities a local health department does the inspections, for example Austin Public Health or Harris County Public Health. The card rule is the same statewide, and two limits apply to local departments:
- If you show a certificate from an accredited program, a local health department can’t charge you a fee or make you get a separate local card (SB 1089, as summarized in the DSHS FAQ).
- A single business may train its own employees with its own unaccredited course. That card covers only that employer’s staff and doesn’t transfer to another job.
What a Texas restaurant has to show the inspector
The restaurant keeps a certificate of completion for each food employee on site, on paper or electronically, and shows it when the inspector asks (§228.31). Lost your card? The training provider issues replacements, so contact the company where you took the course.
A certified food manager credential is a separate, longer exam that also satisfies the food handler rule; DSHS licenses those programs on its food manager page.
To read an inspection report from a Texas city or county, open the inspection score reader and pick that program. For rules in other states, see food handler card requirements by state, and for state-inspected areas see Texas DSHS inspection reports.