[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65356-65358]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17765]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-24-0792; Docket No. CDC-2024-0058]


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 continuing information 
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project 
titled the 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 associated with retail-related foodborne illness and outbreaks.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before October 8, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2024-
0058 by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.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 H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to www.regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (www.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 H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; Telephone: 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 
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

[[Page 65357]]

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. 1/31/2025)--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) approval for a Revision of this Generic 
Clearance for data collections to support research focused on 
identifying and addressing environmental factors associated with 
foodborne illness outbreaks and other food safety issues. These data 
are essential to environmental public health regulators' efforts to 
respond more effectively to and prevent future outbreaks and food 
safety-associated events.
    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--CDC needs 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 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/information collection instruments; 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 six 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. Data from these 
studies have been presented in thirteen articles in peer-reviewed 
scientific journals, in multiple presentations at national food safety 
conferences, and on CDC's website.
    The current package is a Revision of the previous PRA clearance 
from 2021. This package includes the potential for sites to offer 
incentives to participants in EHS-Net data collection activities. This 
will not result in an increased cost to the federal government because 
the cost of incentives is included in the existing EHS-Net cooperative 
agreement. CDC requests OMB approval for an estimated 844 annual burden 
hours. There is no change in the estimated annualized burden hours from 
the previous PRA clearance and there is no cost to respondents other 
than their time to participate.

                                        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)
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Retail managers..............  Manager                      889                1            3/60              44
                                Telephone
                                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/
                                Informed
                                Consent Script.
                               Worker Interview/          2,000                1           10/60             333
                                Assessment.
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    Total....................  ................  ..............  ...............  ..............             844
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[[Page 65358]]

Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Public Health 
Ethics and Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2024-17765 Filed 8-8-24; 8:45 am]
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