[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16860-16862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08007]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-18-0792; Docket No. CDC-2018-0031]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: 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 the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or 
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed 
information collection project titled, Environmental Health Specialists 
Network (EHS-NET) Program Generic Package. The goal of this food safety 
research program is to collect data in retail food establishments that 
will identify and help to understand environmental factors (e.g., 
manager food safety certification, implementation of food safety 
practices, etc.) associated with retail-related foodborne illness and 
outbreaks.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before June 18, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2018-
0031 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new

[[Page 16861]]

proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. 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;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. 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 
submissions of responses.
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-NET) Program Generic 
Package (OMB Control Number 0920-0792; expiration date 9/30/2018)--
Revision--National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is requesting a three-year Office 
of Management and Budget approval for the revision Generic Information 
Collection plan titled the Environmental Health Specialists (EHS-Net).
    The EHS-Net program focuses on identifying the environmental causes 
of foodborne illness. In October 2008, OMB approved the EHS-Net program 
generic information collection plan. OMB approved renewal collections 
in both 2012 and 2015. To date, EHS-Net has conducted five individual 
data collections under this plan.
    CDC seeks a revision to conduct information collections through 
2021. The CDC plans to revise the plan in the following ways:
    (1) The burden hours have increased to allow for additional 
statistical designs. The number of restaurants per site (8 EHS-Net 
sites, which has remained the same) has increased from 47 to 50 
restaurants (totaling 400 restaurants); the sample size was increased 
to detect a greater odds ratio and establish a stronger power.
    (2) The number of respondents has increased to gather additional 
food worker responses per establishment. Collecting data from 
additional food workers (increased to 10 food workers per restaurant 
from 1 food worker per restaurant, totaling 4,000 food workers) will 
help minimize the potential bias of only having one worker represent 
all of food workers in a given establishment. Additionally, going 
forward the restaurant observation data collection by the health 
department (HD) staff will also be included in the burden table.
    (3) We expect to conduct up to three studies in a 5-year 
cooperative period; based on a more accurate study schedule in a 5-year 
EHS-Net cooperative agreement. Therefore, due to an increase in the 
number of restaurants, food workers interviews and addition of 
restaurant observation activity the estimated annual burden hours 
expected to increase from 295 to 1,777 annual hours.
    The goal of this information collection is to improve food safety 
and reduce foodborne illness, which supports the U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2020 Goal. 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 the information collection is to gather data that will help 
us identify and understand environmental factors associated with 
foodborne illness. Specifically, the information will be used to:
    (a) Describe retail food establishment food handling and food 
safety practices and manager/worker and establishment characteristics,
    (b) Determine how retail food establishment and worker 
characteristics are related to food handling and food safety practices.
    The program Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), 
conducted by a collaborative project of CDC, Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (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 information collection plane 
include: (1) Screener; (2) manager and food worker interviews/surveys; 
and (3) observation of kitchen/restaurant environments. These methods 
allow data collection on food safety practices and environmental 
factors associated with those practices.
    For each data collection, CDC will collect data in approximately 50 
retail food establishments per site. Thus, there will be approximately 
400 establishments per data collection (an estimated 8 sites with 50 
establishments).
    The total estimated annual burden for each data collection will be 
1,777 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Managers......................  EHS-Net Manager              889               1            3/60              44
                                 Recruiting
                                 Script.
Managers......................  EHS-Net Manager              400               1           30/60             200
                                 Informed
                                 Consent and
                                 Interview.

[[Page 16862]]

 
Food Workers..................  EHS-Net Food               4,000               1           20/60           1,333
                                 Worker
                                 Recruiting
                                 Screener,
                                 Informed
                                 Consent and
                                 Interview.
HD staff......................  EHS-Net                      400               1           30/60             200
                                 Restaurant
                                 Observation.
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,777
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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. 2018-08007 Filed 4-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P