Pennsylvania — statewide
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services
In short
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services issues 2 permits we publish for Pennsylvania — statewide, last verified 2026-09-03. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Food Facility License | Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services | $82–$241 new license, renewal or change of ownership | risk-based — 24, 18, 12 or 6 months, renewed annually | 2026-09-03 |
| Food Employee Certification | Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services | No fee | set by the accredited certifying programme, not by the Commonwealth | 2026-09-03 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Retail Food Facility License
$241 for a new facility, or $103 if it is owner-operated with fewer than fifty seats — a genuine small-operator discount worth checking you qualify for. Renewal is $82, and so is a change of ownership. Plan review is free, and due at least sixty days before opening. The license interval is risk-based rather than flatly annual: 24, 18, 12 or 6 months depending on the risk factors in the Model Food Code, so a higher-risk operation is re-licensed more often. Follow-up inspections escalate — the second is $150 and the third $300. Fees are collected at the compliant licensing inspection rather than with the application. The jurisdiction question matters more here than in most states: the Department does not license in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery or Philadelphia counties, nor in the city health departments of Allentown, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre and York, and roughly ninety-nine further municipalities run their own licensing. There is no reciprocity between them, so a business crossing a boundary licenses twice.
Food Employee Certification
Pennsylvania sets no fee and no renewal term for this, because it neither issues the certificate nor runs the programme — the state charges none and the only cost is whatever the accredited provider asks. What the law requires is one certified food protection MANAGER per licensed facility, not a food handler card for everyone, and the Department is explicit that enrolling in a food handler course instead of a management course does not satisfy it. There is no statewide food handler card in Pennsylvania at all. Anyone reading older material should be careful: the state used to issue its own certificate for $20 with a five-year renewal and continuing education under Chapter 76 of the Pennsylvania Code, and that chapter was rescinded on 12 May 2014. It is the single most likely source of a wrong Pennsylvania figure. In practice: the certified employee must be available during all hours of operation and is the person in charge when present, the certificate is posted publicly, a new facility has ninety days to comply, three months to replace a certified employee who leaves, and one person may only serve as certified manager for one facility. Prepackaged-only operations, non-profit-managed facilities, volunteer fire and ambulance groups, agricultural fairs and school booster organisations are exempt.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Pennsylvania — statewide
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- 7 Pa. Code section 46.1141 — retail food license interval varies on risk-based factorsPennsylvania Code and Bulletin · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- 7 Pa. Code section 46.1201 — food employee certification requires an accredited manager programme, not a state certificatePennsylvania Code and Bulletin · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture — retail food facility licensing fees and delegated jurisdictionsPennsylvania Department of Agriculture · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other Pennsylvania statewide offices
- Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations
- Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Child Development and Early Learning
- Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
- Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection
- Pennsylvania State Board of Cosmetology, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs
- Pennsylvania State Board of Veterinary Medicine
Pennsylvania jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.