MinukuNot legal advice. This is general information. Local (city or county) health departments can have stricter rules than the state. Check with your local health department.
What Iowa's food code requires
The restaurant's person in charge must keep people its operation doesn't need out of its food prep, storage and dishwashing areas. Delivery and maintenance people who do go in have to follow the food code.
PERSONS unnecessary to the FOOD ESTABLISHMENT operation are not allowed in the FOOD preparation, FOOD storage, or WAREWASHING areas, except that brief visits and tours may be authorized by the PERSON IN CHARGE if steps are taken to ensure that exposed FOOD; clean EQUIPMENT, UTENSILS, and LINENS; and unwrapped SINGLE-SERVICE and SINGLE-USE ARTICLES are protected from contaminationFDA Food Code 2017, 2-103.11(B)
EMPLOYEES and other PERSONS such as delivery and maintenance PERSONS and pesticide applicators entering the FOOD preparation, FOOD storage, and WAREWASHING areas comply with this CodeFDA Food Code 2017, 2-103.11(C)
- What it means
- Iowa's code puts this duty on the restaurant's person in charge, not on the driver. It has no rule aimed at delivery drivers themselves. Iowa Code §137G.2 covers consent, removal within 10 days and civil penalties, with no food-safety terms. HF 2408 proposed that food be "closed or sealed by the restaurant with a tamper-resistant method prior to the food delivery service taking possession" and that the courier "shall not have any passengers," but its status is unverified (Iowa HF 2408; secondary: KCRG). Iowa adopts the 2017 FDA Food Code (481 IAC 31.1) and says the person in charge shows control of food safety by complying with its section 2-103.11, quoted here.
- Food code
- FDA 2017 with Supplement (re-adopted eff. Mar 11, 2026) (481 IAC 31.1)
- Food handler card
- No card; CFPM (481—31.1(2))
- Sources
- Last verified
- October 26, 2026
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Also: Why it matters to the customer · Isn't the lobby fountain self-serve? · What to do if a restaurant asks you to make the drink · What DoorDash's own terms say · What the restaurant promised DoorDash · Who's liable if something goes wrong?
Not legal advice. This is general information. Local (city or county) health departments can have stricter rules than the state. Check with your local health department. Last verified October 26, 2026.
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