Frequently asked questions

Yes.

Effective January 1, 2024, SB 476 requires employers to pay for the costs associated with the training and testing for Food Handlers Card & Certificates.

In addition to paying for the costs associated with the food handlers card training and testing, the employer must pay the employee for the time associated with the training and testing (2 hours of paid leave).

To get a food handler's card in California, follow these simple steps:

1. Choose an Approved Training Program: Select a food handler training course that is approved by the California Department of Public Health. FHC Food Handler Classes offers a state-approved food handler training program that’s 100% online.
    
2. Complete the Online Course: The food safety training covers critical food safety topics such as proper hygiene, preventing cross-contamination, cooking and holding temperatures, and safe food storage. The FHC Food Handler Classes course typically takes 1 to 2 hours to complete.
    
3. Pass the Final Exam: After completing the Food Handler training course, you’ll take a multiple-choice FHC exam that tests your understanding of food safety principles. The exam is designed to be straightforward and easy to pass.
    
4. Receive Your California Food Handler Card: Once you pass the exam, you can immediately download and print your official FHC Food Handler Classes California food handler certificate and card. Keep a copy for yourself and provide one to your employer.
    
5. Renew Your Card: In California, your FHC food handler card is valid for three years. Be sure to renew it before it expires to stay compliant with state regulations.

At FHC Food Handler Classes, we offer a fast, affordable, and approved way to earn your California food handler card online!

About Certified Food Handler

The California Senate Bill No. 602 require a food handler who is hired prior to June 1, 2011, to obtain a food handler card on or before July 1, 2011. The bill would require food handlers hired after June 1, 2011, to obtain a food handler card within 30 days of his or her date of hire. It would require each food handler to maintain a valid food handler card for the duration of his or her employment as a food handler.

How do you become certified?
You will have to take a basic food safety training course with a score of 70 percent or better. The food handler may obtain a California Food Handler Card from:

An ANAB (American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board) accredited training provider that meets ASTM International E2659-09 Standard Practice for Certificate Programs.

In California, food handler safety training is an employment requirement for food workers. All food handlers must complete an accredited food safety training course and then pass an exam. The certificate from this assessment is used to obtain a food handlers card.

After you create a profile, you will be asked if you would like to purchase one of our courses. You are not forced to choose at that moment. You can come back later to make your purchase when ready.

In most cases, it is because the billing information for your credit/bank card does not match the address in your profile or there are insufficient funds in your account. This is to prevent fraud. Another reason could be the security phrase was not entered correctly. The security phrase is case sensitive.

In most cases, it is because your credit/bank card information has been entered incorrectly or there are insufficient funds in your account. Another reason could be the security phrase was not entered correctly. The security phrase is case sensitive.

Your food handler certificate is valid for 2-3 years depending on your loction.

No problem! The system keeps your certificate on file. Simply sign in to your account and print a duplicate.

The timer ensures you completed each activity and determines whether you receive a certificate (If you do not receive a certificate at the end of the course, you will need to make sure you completed each activity).

You have three chances to receive a passing score of 70% or you will have to pay again.

There are 7 Modules. You will have up to 60 days to study but once the exam is started, it must be completed within 90 minutes.

No, all study material must be viewed for the designated time before you will be allowed to take the exam.

Completing this course typically takes less than 2 hours from start to finish.

Please submit a support ticket by clicking the Customer Support link at the top of the page.

Select Site and Create Your Free Account

• To make an individual purchase, you must first create an account for yourself.
• To get started please select your location.
• Next, click on Create Account at the top right of the website to create a free account.
  
• You will be required to provide your full name and email address,
• Create a username and password for your account.
  

Purchase Course

• Next you will need to click on the Take this course button under Course Details on the right side of the website to purchase your course.
• If you have been given a bulk redemption code then click on the Redeem a Code link below the Take this course button. Follow this link to learn about redeeming bulk codes.
  

Billing

• To purchase your course, you will need to complete the billing address.
• Enter your credit card information.
• Click the Review Information button.
• If all of the information is correct, click the check-box stating that you have read and agree to all terms and polices outlined here and on the policies page.
• Click the green Purchase course button.
• Your purchase is now complete.

Now that you have completed your purchase, you can begin taking your course.

Study the Food Safety Training Material

• First you will need to click the green Study button.
• The study area consists of 7 modules, each holding sections that must be read.
• Each section has a countdown timer that must reach zero before the section will be marked as studied with a green check-mark and allow you to continue.
• You can track your progress and see what the next step is by viewing Course Details on the right side of the website.
  
• Once you begin studying your course, the Course Details window will change to Section Details window to help you track your progress.
• At the end of each module, you will take a short quiz to test what you learned.
• You can restudy the course material by clicking View Section if you would like to review the material again.

Take the Food Handlers Exam

• Once all modules have been marked with a green check-mark as studied, you are ready to take your exam. To begin your exam, click the green Take Exam button.
  

Pass the Food Handlers Exam and Access Your FHC Certifcate

• Once you pass your exam, you can print or download your food handler certificate.
• To view your certificate for printing or to download, click the green Print Certificate button.
• Please take our survey to tell us how your experience was taking our Food Handlers course.
  
• To see what your certificate will look like and an explanation of the information it contains, click Certificate Sample.

The pass key and access codes are for group purchases only and are used to redeem a food handler training course purchased by your company. If you are part of a group order, you will need to contact your manager to receive your pass key and access code.

Please Note: If you purchased the course for yourself, you will not be using a pass key and access code.

To make a bulk purchase you need to follow these steps.

Purchasing Bulk Orders

To get started please create a free account.

You will then need to select "Bulk Purchases" from the menu.

Order options
To make a group purchase, you must:

• select your location.
• select the exam you are interested in purchasing.
• select the quantity of courses needed. A minimum of 2 courses is required
• create a Passkey for your order.
• enter a Purchase order (This would come from your company accounting department for cost tracking and is optional).

Company information
Enter your company contact information.

Billing address
Verify billing information is correct and change, if needed.

Payment information
You must now select your payment type, credit card or check by mail.

• If paying by credit card, enter your payment information.
• If paying by check, your codes will be activated upon receival of payment.

Promotion
You may also enter a Promotion code if available.

Managing Your Bulk Order
To manage your bulk order account:

• Sign into your account.
• Select Bulk Purchases from the menu.
• Click View Orders next to How it works. You can also access your bulk order by clicking Me in the menu and then selecting My purchases.
• Your bulk order will appear under Purchases.
• Click on your bulk order. This will open and display your bulk order details, payment information, Management Sharing and Access Codes.

Order Details
Order Details displays your Bulk order purchase number, date of purchase, purchase location, quantity of codes purchased and the proctor key associated with the bulk order.

Payment information
Payment information displays the purchase cost, method of payment, status of purchase and the purchaser's name and address.

Management sharing
Management sharing allows the purchaser of a bulk order to share the bulk order with other managers to help meet their examination needs.  It's easy to share a bulk order. 

• After making a bulk purchase, view the bulk order details.
• Scroll down to Management sharing.
• Enter the email address of the person to share the order with. 
• Click the Share button.
• If you want to unShare the order, simply click the X next to the person's email.

Access Codes
The Access Codes area displays your bulk order Access Code information. The Access Code information will include the code number, date the code expires, the status of the code (Available, Redeemed, Expired), and the name and email address of the food handler the code was issued to.

Within the Access Codes list area you can also email codes to your food handlers by:

• Clicking the mail icon on the far right.
• Enter the food handler's email and click the Send button.
• After a food handler redeems their code, their name will appear under Redeemed By.
• Once your food handler has successfully completed their examination, the mail icon will change to a print icon that will allow you to view / print your food handler's FHC certificate of completion.

Accessing the Bulk Orders

• To manage your group purchase account, sign in using your username and password you used to create your account.
• Click on ME in the upper right corner of the FHC program website.
• Select My Purchases from the drop-down menu.
  
• You can now view your bulk order purchase.
• Your bulk purchase order will display the following:
  • Bulk Purchase Order#, date of purchase, amount of purchase, status of purchase.
  • Number of available codes, number of redeemed codes, number of expired codes.
    

Bulk Order Details

• Click on the bulk purchases to view the details.
• The details will include the following:

  Displays Bulk order purchase number, Edit label (allows you to enter a custom label to help distinguish it from other purchases) and Order status.

  Order information displays the quantity of courses purchased, time stamp of order, location of purchase and payment details.

  Under Food Handler Training you will see details regarding the cost breakdown for the course fee which includes the bulk order expiration date as well as how many codes are still available and any transfer fees that may apply to your location.

  Management Sharing allows the owner of the bulk order to share the details of their Bulk Order with other managers. They will be able to view the order information and manage codes. You can also remove the share when needed.

  The Access Codes area displays your bulk order access code information as well as the passkey for the order. The code information will include the Access Code number, date the code Expires, the Status of the code (available, incomplete, completed), and the user (food handler) the code was issued to.

  This area also allows you to email codes to your food handlers by clicking the mail icon on the far right. After a food handler redeems their code, their name will appear under User. Once your food handler has successfully completed their course, the mail icon will change to a print icon that will allow you to view or print your food handler's FHC certificate.
  
  

Redeeming Access Codes

In order for your Food Handlers to use the Access Codes, they must:

• Go to the same website the bulk order was purchased through and click Create Account to create an account of their own or Sign In to an existing account of their own.
  
• Click on Redeem a code located under Course details located on the right side of the website.
  
• Enter the Access Code and Passkey shared from a bulk order.
• Click the Redeem button.
• Click the checkboxes indicating that agreement to all terms and acknowledge that the bulk order purchaser will have access to view course progress and certificate of completion.
  
  
  

Redeem and Study

• Once the code has been redeemed they will need to click the green Study button to begin their course.
• The study area consists of 7 modules, each holding sections that the Food Handlers must read. Each section has a countdown timer that must reach zero before the section will be marked as studied with a green check-mark allowing them to continue.
• The student can view their progress on the right side of the website under Section Details.

• Once all modules have been studied, they will be able to take the test by clicking the green Take Exam button or study again by clicking the blue View Sections button.
  

Pass Exam and Access the FHC Certificate

• Once your Food Handler passes the exam, they will be able to view and print their food handler certificate.
• Print the certificate by clicking the Print Certificate button. Your food handler's certificate will open in a new window to view/print or download.
  
• To see what your certificate will look like and an explanation of the information it contains, click Certificate Sample.

Notice: To manage your bulk order, click on ME at the top right of the website and select My Purchases. For instruction on how to manage your bulk order, please click here.

To receive a username and password, you must first create a profile by registering on the website. After this, you will be given the opportunity to select and purchase a course.

Sorry, we only accept checks for group purchases, but you can purchase a money card from most major grocery stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Albertsons, or Kroger.

Yes, but they will need to enter their credit/bank card billing address in place of your address in the billing information area to complete the purchase as well as the name on the card.

After you make your course purchase, you should see a charge on your credit card statement from EC FOOD HANDLERS in the amount of the course purchase.

Yes, you can find information for food manager classes at FoodManagerClasses.com.

Yes, you can find information for alcohol safety classes at SellerServerClasses.com.

It normally takes about an hour and a half to study the course material and complete the test.

There are 40 questions on the test. The passing score is 70%. The number of questions and passing grade score can be adjusted by the representative Health Department.

When you purchase your course, you will have 3 opportunities to pass the test. If you fail the test 3 times, you will be required to repurchase the course.

The study material is self paced and saves your progress, so you can work on it when the time is convenient for you. However, once you begin the exam, you must complete it in one sitting.

You can log into your food handler class from any computer. This allows you to access your account and print your certificate from any computer with internet access and printer. This could be at work, a public library, a friend or family members house, or career placement center. You can also download a copy to your computer and email it to your employer.

You can contact customer support via support ticket through the website or call our customer service at (903) 893-3717 to retrieve your username.

To reset your password, select "Customer support" from the menu at the top of the FHC webpage. You can then click the "Reset your password" link underneath the green "Sign in" button.

Next, you will need to provide your email address and username.

No, you create your username when you setup your account profile. You must use the same username you created when you setup your account profile, along with your password to access your account.

It does not cost anything. You may reprint your food handler certificate any time you want from any computer with internet access until the expiration date of the certificate.

Normally your food handler certificate is valid for three years. Some Health Departments may allow for a longer or shorter duration. Always check with your local Health Department to be sure.

The QR Code allows those with a QR code reader app on their mobile device to scan the QR code on the certificate to find out if the certificate is valid. This is a helpful tool for food managers and health departments to manage food handler validity on site. QR code reader apps are readily available on line.

Yes, select the link below for your browser and follow the instructions to enable the function for visually-impaired web browsing.

Microsoft
Follow this link for more information: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/

Windows 8, 8.1, 10

• Windows Key +U
• Tab [step through options]
• spacebar [select]

Apple
Follow this link for more information: http://www.apple.com/support/

Mac Desktop

• Command + Option + F5
• Click to enable
• Click Preferences to Edit options

Mac Notebook/ Laptop

• Function + Command + Option + F5
• Click to enable
• Click Preferences to Edit options

Google
Follow this link for more information: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/177893

Chromebook

• Select Accessibility from welcome screen
• Click status area on account picture
• Select settings
• Click show advanced settings
• View accessibility section and select options

For blind and visually impaired users we suggest one of the narrators described above or installing a screen reader software package.

An example of a text-based web browser and screen reader accessibility package can be found at the link below. The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Screen reader talking software package is available for a range of operating systems.