[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23554-23555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09785]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30 Day-15-0792]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The notice for the proposed 
information collection is published to obtain comments from the public 
and affected agencies.
    Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected 
agencies concerning the proposed collection of information are 
encouraged. Your comments should address any of the following: (a) 
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 
accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) Minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses; and 
(e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Written comments and/or 
suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice should be 
directed to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and 
Budget, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET) Program (OMB No. 
0920-0792, expired 1/31/2015)--Reinstatement--National Center for 
Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The CDC is requesting OMB approval for a reinstatement (with 
changes) of this generic information collection plan. Due to the 
uncertainty about whether the EHS-Net program would receive continued 
funding, NCEH submitted a discontinuation request for this plan on 
January 23, 2015. This reinstatement will provide clearance for EHS-Net 
data collections conducted in the next three years to support a 
research program focused on identifying the environmental causes of 
foodborne illness.
    This program is conducted by the Environmental Health Specialists 
Network (EHS-Net), a collaborative project of CDC, the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA), the United States Department of Agriculture 
(USDA), and local and state sites. To date, EHS-Net has conducted four 
studies under this generic information collection plan. The data from 
these studies have yielded valuable findings and 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.
    NCEH intends to conduct EHS-Net data collections from 2015 through 
2018 (approximately one per year). The program is revising the generic 
information collection request (ICR) to account for a likely change in 
the participating sites, to reduce the estimated burden, and to 
eliminate ineffective 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. The purpose of this food 
safety research program is to identify and understand

[[Page 23555]]

environmental factors associated with foodborne illness and outbreaks.
    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/assessments, 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 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 three minutes. Thus, the maximum burden for the 
manager recruiting attempts will be 31 hours. We will collect 
interview/assessment 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/assessment will be 188. In 
total, the average burden for managers will be 219 hours (31 hours for 
recruiting plus 188 hours for the interview/assessment).
    For each data collection, we will recruit a worker from each 
participating establishment to provide interview/assessment data. Each 
worker will respond to the recruiting script only once for 
approximately three minutes. Thus, the maximum burden for the worker 
recruiting attempts will be 19 hours. 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/assessment will be 57 hours. In total, the average burden per 
worker response will be 88 hours (19 hours for recruiting plus 57 hours 
for the interview/assessment).
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annual burden for each data collection will be 295 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                      Average
                                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per
          Type of respondents                   Form name           respondents    responses per   response  (in
                                                                                    respondent        hours)
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Retail managers.......................  Manager Telephone                    627               1            3/60
                                         Recruiting Script.
Retail managers.......................  Manager Interview/                   376               1           30/60
                                         Assessment.
Retail food workers...................  Worker Recruiting Script             376               1            3/60
Retail food workers...................  Worker Interview/                    339               1           10/60
                                         Assessment.
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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. 2015-09785 Filed 4-27-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P