Food Safety Certification in Illinois

Illinois requires food establishments to be under the supervision of a certified food protection manager (Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act, 410 ILCS 625, with the adopted FDA Food Code). Illinois discontinued its own state FSSMC exam on January 1, 2018 — since then the certificate is earned only through a national ANSI-CFP (ANAB-CFP) accredited exam, issued by the provider rather than IDPH. (Chicago keeps a local city sanitation-certificate overlay on top.) The accepted national exams offer Chinese, Korean and Japanese (ServSafe/NRFSP) plus Spanish; our bank is English, Chinese and Spanish.

Requirement and accepted-certification facts are confirmed from each state's official page (linked per row). Most states accept any nationally ANAB-CFP-accredited manager exam, so the exam LANGUAGE is set by the provider you pick (ServSafe/NRFSP offer Chinese, Korean and Japanese; Spanish is everywhere), not by the state — the exception is Texas's own DSHS-licensed exams and New York City's city exam. Pass marks and fees marked “to confirm” were not published on the official page. Always verify the current rule with your state or local health department before you register.