Alaska calls it a food worker card. If you handle unpackaged food, utensils or food-contact surfaces in a facility regulated by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), you need a card within 30 days of hire. The state card costs $10, comes from passing DEC’s own 20-question test, and is valid for three years. Inside the Municipality of Anchorage the rules change: Anchorage issues its own $10 card, gives you 21 days, and accepts only its own card.
The DEC card is printed from DEC’s online system after you pass its test (18 AAC 31.330). Private “Alaska food handler” courses sold online are study aids; inspectors check the DEC or Anchorage card. For card laws in other states, see food handler card requirements by state.
| State card (DEC) | Anchorage card (MOA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline after hire | 30 days | 21 days |
| Cost | $10 per test ID | $10 online course and card |
| Retakes and replacements | Unlimited retakes for one year on the same test ID; up to 3 extra prints | $5 replacement card |
| Test | 20 questions, 15 correct to pass; online or at a DEC office | Online course and final exam, or in person at the Anchorage Health Department |
| Valid for | 3 years from the date you pass | 3 years |
| Where it counts | DEC-regulated facilities statewide | Anchorage-regulated facilities; DEC facilities also accept it |
| Other languages | DEC’s page points to Anchorage’s tests | Spanish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese (per DEC) |
Who needs an Alaska food worker card
DEC’s food worker card page defines a food worker as anyone working with unpackaged food, potentially hazardous food or food-contact surfaces. Its examples are chefs and cooks, servers and bartenders, meat cutters, food counter workers and dishwashers.
DEC lists these roles as card-free:
- Greeting or seating customers
- Taking payment
- Working only with prepackaged food: cashiers, grocery baggers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers and shelf stockers
- Helping patients or residents with meals in a hospital, assisted living home or rehabilitation center
- Students under 18 helping with school meal service in a school kitchen
- Volunteers
A current Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) certificate also takes the place of a worker card. One more group is named in a separate rule: people who handle marijuana at a licensed product manufacturing facility must hold a food worker card under 3 AAC 306.530.
How to get the DEC card: test ID, test, print
- Optional: read the Alaska Safe Food Worker Handbook and take the free practice test on the DEC testing site.
- Buy a $10 test ID in the food worker card online system (myAlaska login), or pay in person at a DEC Food Safety and Sanitation office. Save the test ID and invoice number.
- Take the test online or ask for a printed test at a DEC office. You need 15 of 20 correct. If you fail, retake it with the same test ID while the ID is valid (one year from purchase).
- Print the card from the online system, or have office staff print it after an in-person test. You can print up to three extra copies while the card is valid.
- Give your employer a copy. Under 18 AAC 31.335 the operator keeps each worker’s card on file for the whole job plus one year.
Card questions go to DEC’s Food Worker Card Coordinator at 907-269-6289 or decfwc@alaska.gov. For people with disabilities, DEC can issue a card after another form of demonstration instead of the written test; the card then lists the activities approved for that worker.
Anchorage: a separate card and a 21-day clock
The Anchorage Health Department runs its own program. Workers in Anchorage-regulated facilities get the card within 21 days of hire by finishing the online course and final exam ($10), or by testing on the third floor of the Anchorage Health Department’s Environmental Health Services Division, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The card is valid for three years. A lost card can be replaced for $5 if you finished the training more than 30 days earlier.
Acceptance runs one way. A DEC-regulated restaurant accepts either card, while Anchorage does not accept state-issued cards. If you might work in both places, the Anchorage card is the one that travels. Anchorage’s food safety page lists a similar set of card-free roles. Questions: 907-343-4200, 825 L Street, Third Floor.
Manager certification in Alaska
Separate from worker cards, DEC’s CFPM page requires a food establishment that prepares or serves unwrapped, unpackaged food to employ at least one full-time Certified Food Protection Manager involved in daily operations (18 AAC 31.325). Any ANAB-accredited manager exam counts, and the certificate lasts five years.
DEC exempts limited food services, convenience stores, food processing establishments and places whose preparation stops at steps such as grinding coffee, heating a bakery product or serving commercially packaged food. Meals served one day or less a week by an organization whose main activity is something other than food service are also exempt. In Anchorage, every facility with a Risk Type 2 or Risk Type 3 permit needs at least one certified food protection manager. For other states’ manager rules, see food manager certification by state.
Checklist before your first shift in Alaska
- Which agency permits your workplace: DEC, or the Municipality of Anchorage
- Your hire date, and whether your clock is 30 days (DEC) or 21 days (Anchorage)
- A test ID bought from DEC or the Anchorage course, rather than a third-party certificate
- Your test ID and invoice number, saved for reprints
- The card’s three-year expiration date
- A copy for your employer’s file
- If you manage the kitchen: whether your CFPM certificate replaces the worker card and when it expires
To look up how a restaurant did on its last inspection, use our guide to Alaska food inspection reports from DEC and Anchorage or the Anchorage restaurant inspection search. Washington runs a similar program; see the Washington food worker card guide.
Alaska DEC and Municipality of Anchorage pages checked October 25, 2026.