What permits do you need to open a food truck in Placer County?

Mobile Food Facility Permit

The county's Mobile Food Facilities page says 'A mobile food facility (MFF) can be a cart, unenclosed vehicle, or food truck or trailer' and that there are limitations on the foods each type may prepare; carts are restricted to limited food preparation, while trucks and trailers can do full preparation. The Food Protection Program lists mobile food vendors among the retail food facilities it permits and inspects throughout the county. The annual fee depends on the level of food preparation, per the Environmental Health Division's Fee Schedule - Effective July 1, 2026 (FY 26-27, revised 5/14/26). New units go through Environmental Health plan check before the permit is issued, and the same schedule's double-fee penalty applies to operating before a permit is obtained.

Temporary Food Facility Permit (community events)

Selling food from a booth at a fair, festival or other community event in Placer County needs a temporary food facility permit from Environmental Health; the Food Protection Program page says 'A community event permit helps to ensure that food at public events is safe to consume and is prepared under clean conditions' and lists special/temporary event booths among the facilities it permits countywide. A vendor working several events can take the annual temporary food facility permit instead of single-event permits, and an event organizer files the temporary event coordinator application. Amounts and the 25 percent late-payment penalty are from the Environmental Health Division's Fee Schedule - Effective July 1, 2026 (FY 26-27, revised 5/14/26).

Caterer / Host Facility Permit

The Food Protection Program page says 'Caterers supply food and related services at private or public functions held somewhere other than where the food was prepared.' A caterer serving food in Placer County holds a caterer permit; the schedule lists a $0 line for a caterer owned by the same owner as an already permitted food facility and a lower line for a caterer working from an out-of-county commissary. A venue that hosts caterers needs the host facility permit, and the county publishes Host Facility Requirements and Host Facility Caterer Standard Operating Procedures among its Mobile Foods & Caterers handouts. Amounts are from the Environmental Health Division's Fee Schedule - Effective July 1, 2026 (FY 26-27, revised 5/14/26).

Food Handler Card

The state does not sell the card and sets no fee of its own — it caps the market instead. At least one accredited course and examination must cost no more than $15 including the card, and if no course is available at that price the requirement does not apply at all. A handler has 30 days from hire to obtain one, it lasts three years, and it travels with the person rather than the employer. Since Senate Bill 476 the employer must treat the training and examination as paid working time, relieve the worker of other duties while they do it, reimburse the cost, and may not require a card as a condition of being hired. The exemptions are broad: grocery and convenience stores, school cafeterias, certified farmers' markets, licensed health care facilities, and any workplace covered by a collective bargaining agreement with its food handlers. Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties run their own card programmes under a pre-2009 carve-out and charge their own fees. Do not confuse this with the separate food safety MANAGER certification, which is one certified person per facility and lasts five years.

Shared with other businesses in Placer County

• Food Facility Permit — California Department of Public Health, Food and Drug Branch, No fee, set by the local enforcement agency. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.