About the course
Wesconsin requires a certified food protection manager at most licensed food establishments, and county inspectors ask to see the certificate. This two-day course covers what the exam covers and what the inspector actually looks at. That means the causes of foodborne illness, time and temperature control, cross-contamination, the nine major allergens, cleaning and sanitizing, pest control, and how to build a simple hazard-analysis plan for the menu items most likely to cause trouble.
About half of the second day is about the supervisor’s job rather than the science: training staff who speak several languages, keeping logs that will hold up, handling a sick employee, and what to do in the first hour after a customer calls about a reaction. The proctored exam, from a nationally accredited provider, takes the last two hours of day two. Results come by email within five business days, and a passing certificate is valid for five years.
Who should enroll
- Restaurant, bar and catering managers; school and hospital food service leads
- Owners of small food businesses, farm-market vendors and community kitchens. New owners can get free help with licensing from the small business clinic.
- Line supervisors in small processing rooms. Plants that need a full preventive-controls course should ask us about a private session with the Agricultural and Food Systems Institute.
No prerequisites. Exam accommodations, including extra time, a reader or a translated exam in Spanish, Hmong or Somali, need ten business days’ notice.
Dates, format and fee
| Section | Dates | Meets | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | Nov. 16–17, 2026 | Mon–Tue, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Founders Commons demonstration kitchen and classroom |
| March | Mar. 1–2, 2027 | Mon–Tue, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Founders Commons demonstration kitchen and classroom |
| April | Apr. 12–13, 2027 | Mon–Tue, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Founders Commons demonstration kitchen and classroom |
- Format
- In person, two days, exam on day two
- Contact hours
- 16
- CEUs
- 1.6
- Fee
- $395, including the exam, a study guide and lunch both days
- Seats
- 30 per session
What you will do
- Day one, morning: how people get sick from food; the pathogens worth remembering; personal hygiene and exclusion rules.
- Day one, afternoon: time and temperature in the demonstration kitchen. Calibrate a thermometer, run a cooling log on a real batch of chili, and watch what happens to a cutting board under UV dye.
- Day two, morning: allergens, cleaning and sanitizing, pests, facility issues; a mock county inspection of the kitchen, which has been seeded with eleven violations.
- Day two, afternoon: supervising for food safety, then the proctored exam from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Instructor
Gretchen Aspelund is a food safety specialist with the Agricultural and Food Systems Institute. She worked as a Porter County sanitarian for twelve years and inspected roughly a third of the restaurants in this site’s guide to eating in Porter Falls. She has asked us to say she will not tell you which ones. The executive chef from Porter Dining joins the kitchen session on day one.
Employer pricing and registration
The list fee is $395 per person. Professional Education invoices employers directly on net-30 terms and provides the completion letter and attendance record that tuition-assistance programs ask for.
| Enrollment | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1–2 people from one employer | $395 |
| 3–5 people from one employer, same section | $356 (10% off) |
| 6 or more people from one employer | $336 (15% off) |
| Porter alumni (not combined with group pricing) | $356 |
| Private cohort of up to 16, at your site or ours | Quoted; usually 70–80% of 16 list-price seats |
Employers with fewer than 250 workers in Porter County and the five neighboring counties may qualify for a Valley Workforce Board incumbent-worker grant that covers up to half the fee. We will help with the paperwork. Restaurants and school districts can bring up to six people at the group rate even if they come to different sessions. Register online or by phone. The full policy on cancellations, substitutions and weather is on the Professional Education page.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This course, its dates, fees, CEUs, instructors and the Valley Workforce Board grant are invented; there is nothing to register for and no certificate to earn. Gretchen Aspelund, the Wesconsin rule, the exam and the eleven seeded violations are invented; this is not food safety advice, and no inspector will accept a certificate from this page.