Certificate Issuance and Use Policy

Purpose

This policy document serves to explain all aspects of how certificates are issued and used by Food Service Prep.

Scope

The scope of this policy encompasses food handler certificates issued to students after they have successfully completed the food handler program.

Certificate Issuance

Food Service Prep will issue a certificate to participants upon successful completion of the food handler program. Successful completion of the course includes:

• Participant has signed up and has been securely logged in through the online web portal
• Participant has purchased or redeemed a course through a voucher
• Participant has properly filled out their profile with the name which will appear on the certificate
• Participant has read through and completed all the modules of the course material
• Participant has passed the final assessment with at least a 70% score
• Participant has completed the program evaluation
• The entire course, assessment, and evaluation has been completed with the participant securely logged in

Certificates are non-transferrable. It is strictly prohibited to transfer a certificate to someone else.

Technology Requirements

In order to complete the Food Service Prep Food Handler Program, a participant must have access to an internet connection and a device capable of accessing the internet. Food Service Prep is compatible with all modern browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari.

If the program is to be taken on a desktop computer, it should meet these minimum system requirements:

Windows

• Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or later
• An Intel Pentium 4 processor or later that's SSE3 capable

Mac

• OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later

Certificates will be emailed in a PDF format. To view and download their certificate, learners will need a PDF-compatible program, such as Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or another PDF software.

Certificate Use

Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be able to email themselves a copy of their food handler certificate in a PDF format. This can be printed for participant use. Additionally, Food Handler Cards can be viewed at any time on the user dashboard at FoodServicePrep.com.

As a Food Handler certificate issuer, Food Service Prep uses the FDA Food Code cycle when considering the term of the course. The FDA issues major updates on a four-year interval between complete Food Code editions, with minor updates typically occurring every two years. The Food Service Prep certificate program term is three years. This allows for the review of these updates that may occur during the cycle and to make any adjustments to the course that result from those updates in a timely manner.

Although the Food Service Prep term of validity is 3 years, certain health department, state, or local laws or regulations, and/or legislative documents may set a food handler card validity term of less than 3 years, which Food Service Prep must comply with.