[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 63 (Monday, April 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17603-17604]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06883]



[[Page 17603]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-21-0792; Docket No. CDC-2021-0032]


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.

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

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. The goal of this food safety research 
program is to collect data in retail food establishments that will 
identify and address environmental factors (e.g., manager food safety 
certification, equipment condition, etc.) associated with retail-
related foodborne illness and outbreaks.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before June 4, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2021-
0032 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, 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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7118; 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 
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;
    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; and
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) Program--OMB 
Control No. 0920-0792, Exp. 8/31/2021)--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 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance for a Revision of this generic 
clearance for Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) data 
collections to support research focused on identifying and addressing 
the environmental causes of foodborne illness.
    An estimated 47.8 million foodborne illnesses occur annually in the 
United States, resulting in 127,839 hospitalizations, and 3,037 deaths 
annually. These figures indicate that foodborne illness is a 
significant problem in the U.S. Reducing foodborne illness 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, 
increase regulatory program effectiveness, and decrease 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 EHS-Net, a 
collaborative project of CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 
United States 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 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 clearance include: (1) Manager and 
worker interviews or pen-and-paper assessments, and (2) observation of 
kitchen environments. Both methods allow data collection on food safety 
practices and environmental factors associated with those practices.
    To date, EHS-Net has conducted five studies under this generic 
clearance. The data from these 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 website postings. The current 
package is a Revision of the previous PRA clearance from 2018. The 
sites in which data will be collected differ. CDC funded a renewal of 
the EHS-Net cooperative agreement in 2020; as a result, one site was 
dropped from the agreement (California), and one was added (Franklin 
County, Ohio). The other sites remained the same. These are: Harris 
County, Texas; Minnesota, New York; New York City, New York;

[[Page 17604]]

Rhode Island; Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada; and Tennessee.
    The total annual time burden requested will be reduced by 766 hours 
for reasons described below.
     Although the annual number of restaurants remains the same 
(n=400), we have reduced the number of respondents from ten to five 
food workers per restaurant. Thus, the total number of food workers to 
be interviewed is reduced from 4,000 to 2,000 per year.
     The average time burden for food workers has been reduced 
from 20 minutes to 17 minutes per response for recruiting, informed 
consent, and interview. Thus, the total time burden for food workers is 
reduced from 1,333 to 500 hours per year.
     There are no requested changes to the number of managers; 
however, their time burden has increased by 200 hours per year. We have 
transferred the respondent type for observation from health department 
staff in 2018 to the managers in 2021. Managers incur this additional 
time burden by allowing health department staff to conduct the 
observation activities in their establishments. This change does not 
result in any net difference in overall time burden requested but 
eliminates one respondent type.
    The total estimated annual burden requested is 1,011 hours. There 
is no cost to the respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
      Type of respondents           Form name       respondents    responses per   response  (in    (in hours)
                                                                    respondent        hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retail managers...............  Manager                      889               1            3/60              44
                                 Recruiting
                                 Script.
                                Manager                      400               1           30/60             200
                                 Interview/
                                 Assessment.
                                Observation.....             400               1           30/60             200
Retail food workers...........  Worker                     2,000               1            2/60              67
                                 Recruiting
                                 Screener and
                                 Informed
                                 Consent.
                                Worker Interview/          2,000               1           15/60             500
                                 Assessment.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2021-06883 Filed 4-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P