California Professional Standards by Position

A summary of California specific professional standards and policies for School Nutrition Program employees by position.

Acronyms

SY = School Year; CDE = California Department of Education; LEA = Local Educational Agency; SNP = School Nutrition Programs; USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture; HHFKA = Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

^A The food safety hiring requirement is in addition to the annual training requirement of 12 hours.

^B May show compliance over two school years as long as some training occurs during each year.

^COngoing food safety training can be credited towards the 12-hour annual training requirement.

^DFor specific information on educational requirements for a new SNP Director hired on or after July 1, 2015, consult Management Bulletin SNP-12-2025.

^E Acting directors are on an interim basis only.

Position	Hiring Standards: Educational Requirements	Hiring Standards: Food Safety Hiring Requirements^A	Training Standards: Annual Training Hours^B (starting SY 2016-17)	Training Standards: Ongoing Food Safety Training^C
Current SNP Director (hired before July 1, 2015)	None (Grandfathered)	None (Grandfathered)	12	Either maintain food safety certification or complete eight hours of food safety training every five years
New SNP Director (hired on or after July 1, 2015)	Yes^D Hiring flexibility for: LEAs with annual student enrollment of fewer than 500 students; and LEAs with annual student enrollment of 2,500 or more	Yes Eight hours within five years before start date or 30 calendar days after start date	12	Either maintain food safety certification or complete eight hours of food safety training every five years
Acting SNP Director^E	None	None	12 (CDE Policy)	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties
Managers	n/a	n/a	10	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties
Staff (working 20 hours or more per week)	n/a	n/a	6	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties
Staff (working fewer than 20 hours per week)	n/a	n/a	4	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties
Temporary, Acting or Substitute Staff	n/a	n/a	No minimum hours, recordkeeping, or documentation requirement (CDE policy)	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties (CDE policy)
Volunteer Staff, and Interns	n/a	n/a	No minimum hours, recordkeeping, or documentation requirement (CDE policy)	Strongly recommend food safety training related to the job duties (CDE policy)

Training Records

Training records for each employee must include their first and last name, job category (director, manager, part-time staff, or full-time staff, including food service management company positions), training title, date training completed, credited training time, and Professional Standards learning objective code.

In California, key area and training topics are optional as they can be inferred from the learning objective code.

Local educational agencies can use the optional U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Professional Standards Trainings and Tracker Tool .

Questions: Nutrition Services Division | ProfessionalStandards@cde.ca.gov

Last Reviewed: Wednesday, November 26, 2025