IN.gov - Skip Navigation

Note: This message is displayed if (1) your browser is not standards-compliant or (2) you have you disabled CSS. Read our Policies for more information.


Subscribe for e-mail updates
Print This Page Rate This Page Suggest a Link E-mail This Page HELP Find a Person Find an Agency

Food Protection Home > Food Recall and Traceability Strategies Day Food Recall and Traceability Strategies Day

On January 1, 2005 a new law took effect because of a bill passed by the Indiana Legislature in 2001. It requires that each food establishment have a certified food handler The new statute, Indiana Code 16-42-5.2, was patterned after a national standard created by the Conference for Food Protection and later developed into standards under the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Those standards were developed for retail food establishments and therefore, most of the training and examinations that were developed were tailored toward the retail food service environment. However, the Indiana law stipulates that all food establishments comply with this. The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) has elected to delay implementation of this requirement until another suitable choice of training and examination was made available for the manufacturing and processing segment of the food industry.

For some food service types within the wholesale segment of the food industry, the currently available options for certification will suffice. For other manufacturing segments they do not adequately address the needs and environments typically found. The ISDH has solicited other organizations to develop and provide this service. It is hoped that in the very near future one will become available though a recognized leader of training for this segment of the industry.

Other existing types of training and certification, such as the Better Process Control School and HACCP, will also be recognized as meeting this requirement for your operation. It should also be understood that many operations are exempt from this requirement due to the nature of their process and/or menu. Please take time to view a copy of the rule and a list of frequently asked questions about the requirement.

The goal of this program is to begin enforcing this requirement in January 2009 to allow time for your operation to come into compliance. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to talk to any of our Wholesale Section staff to discuss available options.