Obtaining a Food Handler’s Card in Oregon

Food service workers in the state of Oregon are required to obtain a food handler’s card within thirty days of beginning work at any place of employment in the industry. This pertains to any job that involves handling food that will be served to the public – cooking, prep-cooking, waiting tables, and fast food. Food handler cards that are issued in any county will be valid in the entire state of Oregon (if one has a Manager Training Certificate, this will be accepted in lieu of a handler card). Cards that were issued in other states will not be valid in Oregon.

Food handler cards can be obtained at any local Environmental Health Office. One must pay a $10 fee, read a booklet entitled Food Safety: Your Self-Training Manual, and then take a test (which the manual provides all the answers to). In order to pass the test, one must score at 75% or higher. The test can also be taken online with any of the following state-approved providers: Oregon Restaurant Education Foundation, Cheneketa Community College, Multnomah County Environmental Health, and Lane County Environmental Health. Finally, On Site Food Handler Education can provide a food handler class and certification at your work site.

The test was devised to raise people’s awareness of the dangers of food-bourne ilness that can exist in any restaurant environment. Some of the concerns include personal hygienic practices, the risks of cross-contamination, and the proper temperatures as which food can be served and stored. Workers who have taken the training session also become more of an asset to their employers, because the issues addressed by the test are the same as those that regional Health and Franchise Inspectors look for when they come in to examine a restaurant and watch its operations. If both managers and staff alike follow the guidelines set forth by the self-training manual, their restaurants will be in compliance with both the health laws and the more specific health-related codes of their franchise.

Many of the test questions, such as those that address the necessity of washing hands after handling money or using the bathroom, or that stress the importance of keeping the general work space clean, require little more than common sense to answer. Testers typically experience more difficulty with those questions that pertain to the heating, cooling, and holding temperatures of various types of food. Those of us who have experience in the industry and are used to filling out temperature logs will probably have few problems with these sorts of questions. Others should pay particular attention to the parts of the training manual that address them.

If you fail to make the 75% grade the first time through, don’t despair. It’s designed as a training class, not as a pass or fail system intended to weed out prospective workers. You’ll be allowed to simply review the booklet again and then take the test over when you feel ready. You will not be obliged to pay another fee, either.