[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1505-1506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00241]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-0792]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of 
its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility 
of government information, invites the general public and other Federal 
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. To request more information on the below 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or send comments to LeRoy 
Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an 
email to [email protected].
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval. 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; (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; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden 
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information 
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. Written comments should be received within 60 
days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET) Program (OMB No. 
0920-0792, expires 2/28/2015)--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.
    To date, EHS-Net has conducted four studies under this generic 
clearance. The first study collected data on improper cooling of hot 
foods, a food handling practice associated with foodborne illness and 
outbreaks. The second study collected data on the relationship between 
kitchen manager food safety certification and foodborne illness risk 
factors in restaurants. Public health agencies are increasingly 
encouraging or requiring certification as a foodborne illness 
prevention measure, yet little is known about its effectiveness. The 
third study collected data on the environmental factors associated with 
contamination of the retail deli environment with Listeria, a foodborne 
illness pathogen ranked 3rd in terms of the number of deaths it causes. 
The fourth study collected data on restaurant managers' and workers' 
food allergen knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Food allergens are 
an important food safety issue for restaurants.
    The data from the first two studies have been disseminated to 
environmental public health/food safety regulatory programs and the 
food industry in the form of presentations at conferences and meetings, 
scientific journal publications, and Web site postings. We will 
continue to analyze and present the data from all four studies, and 
expect that they will continue to provide valuable and useful data 
about environmental factors associated with foodborne illness outbreaks 
and food safety issues.
    This revision will provide OMB clearance for EHS-Net data 
collections conducted in 2015 through 2018 (approximately one per 
year). The program is revising the generic information collection 
request (ICR) in the following ways:
    (1) Because of the re-announcement and re-competition of the EHS-
Net cooperative agreement in 2015, it is likely that the sites in which 
data will be collected will differ from the sites in which data were 
collected previously.
    (2) We revised the estimated study sample size and burden downward. 
Thus, the estimated burden has been reduced.
    (3) We have eliminated proposed sample weighting analyses.
    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 is conducted by the 
Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), a collaborative 
project of CDC, FDA, USDA, and local and state sites.
    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) Manager and 
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 47 
retail food establishments per site. Thus, there will be approximately 
376 establishments per data collection (an estimated 8 sites x 47 
establishments). We expect a manager/establishment

[[Page 1506]]

response rate of approximately 60 percent; thus, we will need to 
attempt to recruit 627 managers/establishments via telephone in order 
to meet our goal of 376 establishments. Each manager will respond to 
the recruiting script only once for approximately 3 minutes. Thus, the 
maximum burden for the manager recruiting attempts will be 31.35 hours 
(627 managers x 3 minutes). We will collect interview/survey data from 
a manager in each establishment. Each manager will respond only once 
for approximately 30 minutes. Thus, the maximum burden for the manager 
interview/survey will be 188 hours (376 managers x 30 minutes). In 
total, the average burden for managers will be 219.35 hours (31.35 
hours for recruiting plus 188 hours for the interview/survey).
    For each data collection, we will recruit a worker from each 
participating establishment to provide interview/survey data. Each 
worker will respond to the recruiting script only once for 
approximately 3 minutes. Thus, the maximum burden for the worker 
recruiting attempts will be 18.8 hours (376 workers x 3 minutes). We 
expect a worker response rate of 90 percent (339 workers). Each worker 
will respond only once for approximately 10 minutes. Thus, the maximum 
burden for the worker interview/survey will be 56.5 hours (339 workers 
x 10 minutes). In total, the average burden per worker response will be 
75.3 hours (18.8 hours for recruiting + 56.5 hours for the interview/
survey).
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annual burden for the data collection will be 295 hours.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden
              Type of respondents                               Form name                    Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                                                            respondents     respondent      (in hours)         hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retail managers................................  Manager Telephone Recruiting Script....             627               1            3/60              31
Retail managers................................  Manager Interview/survey...............             376               1           30/60             188
Retail food workers............................  Worker Recruiting Script...............             376               1            3/60              19
Retail food workers............................  Worker Interview/survey................             339               1           10/60              57
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             295
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2015-00241 Filed 1-9-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P