[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 121 (Thursday, June 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36924-36925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15682]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-11-07BH]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-5960 
and send comments to Daniel Holcomb, CDC Reports Clearance Officer, 
1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET) Program Generic 
Package (no. 0920-0792; expiration date: 10/31/2011)--Revision--
National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The CDC is requesting OMB approval for three additional years to 
use this generic clearance for a research program focused on 
identifying the environmental causes of foodborne illness. This 
revision will provide OMB clearance for EHS-NET data collections 
conducted in 2011 through 2014 (a maximum of 3 annually). The program 
is revising the generic information collection request (ICR)in the 
following ways:
    (1) We reduced the number of respondent groups from 3 to 1.
    (2) We reduced the number of studies we expect to conduct on an 
annual basis, which reduces the estimated burden.
    (3) We will use enhanced statistical methods in comparison to the 
previous ICR. Specifically, we plan to collect generalizable data.
    Reducing foodborne illness first requires identification and 
understanding of the environmental factors that cause these illnesses. 
We need to know how and why food becomes contaminated with foodborne 
illness pathogens. This information can then be used to determine 
effective food safety prevention methods. Ultimately, these actions can 
lead to increased regulatory program effectiveness and decreased 
foodborne illness. The purpose of this food safety research program is 
to identify and understand environmental factors associated with 
foodborne illness and outbreaks. This program will continue to involve 
up to 3 data collections a year. This program is conducted by the 
Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET), a collaborative 
project of CDC, FDA, USDA, and six state/local sites (CA, NYC, NY, MN, 
RI, and TN).

[[Page 36925]]

    Environmental factors associated with foodborne illness include 
both food safety practices (e.g., inadequate cleaning practices) and 
the factors in the environment associated with those practices (e.g., 
worker and retail food establishment characteristics). To understand 
these factors, we need to continue to collect data from those who 
prepare food (i.e., food workers) and on the environments in which the 
food is prepared (i.e., retail food establishment kitchens). Thus, data 
collection methods for this generic package include: (1) Worker 
interviews/surveys, and (2) observation of kitchen environments. Both 
methods allow data collection on food safety practices and 
environmental factors associated with those practices.
    For each data collection, we will collect data in approximately 80 
retail food establishments per EHS-NET site. Thus, there will be 
approximately 480 establishments per data collection (6 sites*80 
establishments). For each data collection, we will collect interview/
survey data from 1 to 3 workers per establishment. Each respondent will 
respond only once. Each worker interview/survey will take approximately 
30 minutes. Thus, the maximum annual burden for the interview/surveys 
per data collection will be 720 hours (480 establishments*3 workers*30 
minutes). As we plan to conduct up to 3 data collections annually, the 
maximum annual worker interview/survey burden will be 2,160 hours (720 
hours*3 data collections).
    We expect a worker response rate of approximately 70 percent. Thus, 
for each data collection, we will need to conduct a recruiting screener 
with approximately 2,057 worker respondents to obtain the needed number 
of respondents. Each respondent will respond only once. Each screener 
will take approximately 3 minutes. Thus, the maximum annual burden for 
the recruiting screeners per data collection will be 103 hours (2,057 
workers*3 minutes). As we plan to conduct up to 3 data collections 
annually, the maximum annual burden will be 309 hours (103 hours*3 data 
collections). Thus, the maximum annual burden will be 2,469 hours 
(2,160 hours for worker interview/surveys + 309 hours for worker 
recruiting screener). There is no cost to the respondent other than 
their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total  burden
      Type of respondents           Form name       respondents   responses  per   response  (in    (in hours)
                                                                     respondent       hours)
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Retail food workers...........  Interview/survey           4,320               1           30/60           2,160
Retail food workers...........  Recruiting                 6,171               1            3/60             309
                                 screener.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           2,469
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Daniel Holcomb,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2011-15682 Filed 6-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P