Print PDF

Certified Food Safety Programs – Refreshed and Updated for 2026 and Why it Matters More This Year!

Welcome to September, and to National Food Safety Education Month! Every few years around this time, I put together an updated list of the food safety programs accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board under the Conference for Food Protection’s standards. That’s a mouthful, but here’s why it matters: the Food Code requires every foodservice operation to have a person in charge who can demonstrate knowledge of food safety. There are three ways to do that. The first is having no priority violations during the current inspection. The second is answering the inspector’s questions about your specific operation. The last and final way you can do this is by passing one of those accredited exams. But this year, I want to spend a minute on why that certification matters more than it did the last time I ran this post, because this summer sure didn’t seem like a normal outbreak summer.
If you spent the last three months pulling product off your shelves, you already know. This summer was a bad one, and the numbers say so plainly. Since the “Cyclospora season” opened on May 1, the CDC has confirmed 18,445 cases nationally, compared with roughly 1,180 over the same period last year. The single largest driver of this was the outbreak traced to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico that sickened 11,458 people across 20 states, hospitalized at least 495, and killed two. It didn’t stop there. The FDA reported 431 illnesses and 57 hospitalizations across 32 states from Salmonella Javiana in jalapeños sourced from Sinaloa, Mexico. And alfalfa sprouts turned up again with a multi-pathogen outbreak involving three strains of E. coli plus Salmonella Agona, traced to Everything Sprouts, LLC.
Here’s what I want you to notice about all three. Not one of them was a cooking temperature failure. Not one was a handwashing failure. Every single one arrived at the back door of a foodservice facility already contaminated, in a case of produce that looked exactly like every other case of produce. Which means the skill that mattered most this summer wasn’t knife handling or cooling procedures. It was whether the person in charge knew what was in the walk-in, where it came from, and how fast they could get it out of service when the recall notice hit.
Which brings me to the question I still get more than any other: do I have to pass the exam? No, you don’t. As I said at the start, any one of the three routes satisfies the requirement, and two of them cost you nothing. But “satisfies the requirement” and “prepared for a summer like this one” are not the same standard, and this year made the gap between them awfully clear.
A note on which Food Code we’re talking about. The 2022 Food Code is still the most recent complete edition, updated by a supplement issued in November 2024. FDA has indicated a new full edition is coming this year, along with a companion Retail Program Standards manual. As I write this in early September, it hasn’t been published yet.
But remember, none of that changes your obligations. The Food Code is a model, it binds you only once your state, county, or city adopts it, and adoption runs years behind publication. Plenty of jurisdictions are still enforcing the 2017 edition. So, when the 2026 Code is published and the trade press starts running “changes are coming” headlines, the only question that matters for your operation is what your health department has adopted. Ask them.
What doesn’t change with any edition is the reason any of this exists. Here’s what I wrote the last time I ran this list, and I haven’t changed a word of it since:

… if my business were ever the source of a foodborne illness outbreak, I would certainly want to know that I had done everything in my power to protect my guests and having trained my employees who work on the front lines with the food I serve in my business would be the very least that I could do.

Training the people on your line is the part you control. So, here’s where to go get it.
The 2026 list of accredited programs
I pulled this directly from the ANAB directory of accredited food protection manager certification bodies on September 4, 2026. Thirteen organizations currently hold accreditation under the Conference for Food Protection standard.
Three are new since my last update: FoodSafePal (Dakota Dietitians), FMC Food Managers Certification(DSBWorldWide, doing business as EduClasses), and Userve. Everyone from the previous list is still accredited.
Accredited Food Manager Examinations[1]
Name of Organization Website Format Published Price Worth Knowing
AAA Trainers LLC (AAA Food Handler) aaafoodhandler.com Online training; remote proctored exam Varies by jurisdiction. Estimated: Training from $49.95; Gold training + exam $99.95; Diamond training + exam $119.95; exam only $69.95 Remote proctoring included at no extra charge. Diamond package adds one free retake. Course and exam access expire one year from purchase.
APS Culinary Dynamics (World Food Safety Organization) academy.worldfoodsafety.org Online training; remote or in-person exam Priced per course; it appears to be $95 for the Food Protection Manager and Certification Exam with live remote proctoring, with an additional $35 for an in-person proctoring fee. Study courses sold individually or as a bundle. One year of course access.
Certus / StateFoodSafety statefoodsafety.com Online training; proctored exam online or in person Varies by jurisdiction; exam is $28 plus proctor fee, training is $65. The training and Exam package is around $90 plus a proctor fee. Proctor fees run an additional $60 to $48. Fail the exam, and you repurchase the exam, not the course. They do claim they are approved in more local jurisdictions than any other provider.
Dakota Dietitians (FoodSafePal) foodsafepal.com Online Varies by jurisdiction. The combined training and exam package appears to be around $159, with the exam priced at $99 and the training at $125. New to the accredited list.
DSBWorldWide (EduClasses / FMC) foodmanagerscertification.com Online training; proctored online or in person via Prometric The combined training and exam package ranges from $80 (plus proctor fee) for online training to $120 (proctor cost included) for in-person exams. The exam is $25, and the training is $65. New to the accredited list. One exam attempt.
Learn2Serve (360training) 360training.com/learn2serve Online training: remote proctor included The combined training and exam package is $121 and includes the proctor fee. The exam is $69.99, and the proctored exam is $65. Two exam attempts are included in most packages.
My Food Service License myfoodservicelicense.com Online training; remote proctoring The combined training and exam package is $139 or  $189 with the eBook; both options include the proctor fee. The exam and proctor is $99.99, and the course is $165. Runs promotional pricing often enough that the list price is rarely what you pay.
National Registry of Food Safety Professionals nrfsp.com Self-study or affiliate-delivered training; exam online or at a test center The exam and proctor is $81.99.
National Restaurant Association (ServSafe) servsafe.com In-person or online training; exam in person or online proctored Online course and exam are $179 and include a proctor; the online exam voucher is around $38.99 plus a proctor fee, or $99 with online proctoring; in-person classes vary depending on the host. Extension offices and restaurant associations often run classes cheaper than buying direct.
Relish Works (Trust20) trust20.co Online training; remote-proctored Exam $90 and includes proctoring; manager training $90 One attempt per exam purchase.
Responsible Training / Safeway Certifications responsibletraining.com Online training; remote-proctored Course and exam are $95 with remote proctoring included.
The Always Food Safe Company alwaysfoodsafe.com Online video training; remote proctoring included Training and exam $84; exam only $28; training only $65 One free retake included
Userve userve.com Online training; remote-proctored The combined training and exam package is $119.99 (normally listed for $149) or $179 with the Management Toolkit; both options include the proctor fee. The exam and proctor are $89.99, and the course is $79.99. The exam and course package includes unlimited exam attempts. The exsam only option incudes 3 free attempts.
[1] Information is current as of 9/3/2026

Several providers price by state, and their pricing appears to change regularly. If you want the number, get it from the checkout page on the day you buy it.

The sticker price is rarely the whole picture. A few things to note before you buy:

  • Some providers bundle it, some add proctor fees, and others ask you to find a local proctor. Compare the total, not the buy now price.
  • Retake policy. Many providers sell you one attempt. If you fail the exam, you have to retake the exam. If you’re training someone who tests poorly, paying more up front may end up being cheaper. I once had a student who did not test well and took the ServSafe exam five times before passing it.
  • State add-ons. A handful of states require separate allergen training from an accredited provider. Know what your start requires going in.
  • Many offer discounts at five or ten seats. If you’re certifying a management team rather than one person, ask, the rate isn’t always posted.
  • Training Program Quality. We are unable to rate the quality of the training program. A poor training program could increase the retake fees for the exam. The total cost is not always a guarantee of a good program.

I know some of you want me to tell you which program is best. I’m not going to, for the same reason I didn’t last time: it depends on how you learn, how you want to test, what your jurisdiction accepts, and what you can spend. I’m not endorsing any of these. I’m telling you they’re currently accredited.

Two things before you pay anyone. First, check the ANAB directory yourself. It tracks suspensions and withdrawals alongside active accreditations, and a program’s status can change between when I publish this and when you read it. Second, call your local health department and confirm they accept that specific exam.

Have you put a manager through one of these recently? Good experience, bad experience, surprise fee nobody warned you about? I’d like to hear it, and I may use it in a future post. Risk Nothing.

READ MORE POSTS

Meat Color and Doneness: Persistent Pinking

Late in June, my family and I were able to visit the Black Hills, an area of the country in which I have not had the opportunity to spend much time.  One evening, as we dined at a local restaurant, I observed a table across the dining room sending back a dinner.  While I couldn’t hear the entire conversation and I certainly wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, it was apparent that the customer was unhappy with the cooking of their hamburger and was sending it back because it was too pink in the middle.  That immediately brought to my mind the phenomenon known as persistent pinking.  A term I became familiar with because of work done by some colleagues here at Kansas State, which they present each summer to a group of foodservice operators who join us on-campus for an in-depth week-long look at all things food safety.

Quat Binding – Why this Can Have a Disastrous Impact on Your Sanitation Program.

In June, I had the opportunity to represent FoodHandler and speak on food safety behavior for customers of Martin Bros. Distributing in Waterloo, Iowa.  One of the questions that was asked caught me a little off guard. The question was about quat binding.  It caught me off guard not because it was a bad question, but only because it was not something I had previously been asked nor had not yet been exposed to the phenomenon. However, I soon learned that in certain jurisdictions, it is resulting in changes to how sanitizing cloths are to be stored in sanitizing buckets (or not) in the foodservice industry. When I returned home from the trip, I had to dig into it to learn about what quat binding is and how it might impact foodservice operations.

Are Grades for Foodservice Inspections a Good Idea?

I generally try to stay away from controversial topics in my blog, but this is one I thought it might be interesting to discuss. Occasionally on my travels, I will come across a state or a local jurisdiction that requires foodservice inspection scores be posted in the window of the establishment.  The idea is to allow would-be customers the ability to see how the foodservice operation in which they are about to eat scored on their latest health inspection.