Virginia — statewide
Virginia Department of Health, Division of Food and Environmental Services
In short
Virginia Department of Health, Division of Food and Environmental Services issues 2 permits we publish for Virginia — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food Establishment Permit | Virginia Department of Health, Division of Food and Environmental Services | $40 a year; a new establishment also pays $40 for plan review | annual — no more than twelve months from issue | 2026-09-03 |
| Certified Food Protection Manageronly if it applies to you | Virginia Department of Health, Division of Food and Environmental Services | No fee | no state-set period — the certifying programme sets its own | 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
Food Establishment Permit
One flat $40 for the whole state, which is unusual and cheap — and the fee's authority is the Appropriation Act rather than the food statute, so anyone looking for it in Title 35.1 or in the food regulation will not find it there. A new restaurant pays $80 in total, plan review plus permit, and the combined fees are capped at $80 a year per facility. Apply at least thirty days before opening. A permit is not transferable, so a change of ownership means a fresh $40. Ten localities adopted their own food ordinances before 2022 and permit independently — Alexandria, Arlington, Danville, Fairfax County, Hampton, Hopewell, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth and Roanoke — and some add real money on top: Fairfax charges $100 for a preliminary inspection and $80 for a change of ownership. Retail food stores and manufacturers are a different regime entirely, run by the agriculture department, where the permit is free and the annual inspection is $40.
Certified Food Protection Manager
No state fee — Virginia neither issues the certificate nor charges for it; an accredited programme does both. At least one employee with supervisory and management authority must hold it, but the rule carves out establishments serving only food that needs no temperature control, and those that merely reheat or cold-hold commercially processed food, provided they do not cool it. The five-year validity people quote is the certifying programme's rule, not Virginia's — the regulation sets no term. Virginia requires no food handler card statewide either, and the department publishes a table of the twelve localities that do impose one, all of them in Hampton Roads and the Peninsula.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Virginia — statewide
- Phone
- (804) 864-7454
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.
- 12VAC5-421-55 — certified food protection manager requirement and its exemptionsVirginia Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Virginia Department of Health — food establishment permit application processVirginia Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Virginia Department of Health — food establishment permit application, stating the $40 annual permit feeVirginia Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other Virginia statewide offices
- Virginia State Corporation Commission, Office of the Clerk
- Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Board for Contractors
- Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Health Professions
- Virginia Department of Education, Child Care Licensing
- Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Board for Barbers and Cosmetology
- Virginia Department of Taxation
Virginia jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.