ICRFoodSafetyEdConf10

SUPPORTING STATEMENT JUSTIFICATION FOR

FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION CONFERENCE

1. Circumstances Making Collection Of Information Necessary:

This is a request for a new approved information collection, which addresses registration for the Food Safety Education Conference sponsored by FSIS.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has been delegated the authority to exercise the functions of the Secretary as provided in the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.), and the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA) (21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.). These statutes mandate that FSIS protect the public by ensuring that meat and poultry products are safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled and packaged.

2. How, By Whom and Purpose Information Is To Be Used:

The following is a discussion of the information collection activities.

This information collection is necessary so people can register for the Food Safety Education Conference. The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for attendees to engage in a meaningful information exchange about strategies for sharing safe food handling information with consumers and at-risk persons to reduce their risk of contracting a foodborne illness.

Registration will be mandatory to attend the conference. To register, individuals will have to use their credit cards to make payment. FSIS and NSF International will collect the following personal data related to the use of a credit card from individuals who register for the conference: name, organization, street address, city or town, State, country, telephone number, and credit card information. The respondents are individuals interested in attending the conference. The information will be used to collect payment.

There are 66.6 total burden hours for the information collection request relating to the application for the return of exported product.

3. Use Of Improved Information Technology:

Registration is done in person at the conference.

4. Efforts To Identify Duplication:

No FSIS office, USDA agency, or any other Government agency requires information relating to registration for the Food Safety and Education Conference. There is no available information that can be used or modified.

5. Methods To Minimize Burden On Small Business Entities:

Data is required of all individuals registering for the conference. The information collections must apply to all requestors.

6. Consequences If Information Were Collected Less Frequently:

To conduct the information collections less frequently will reduce the effectiveness of the meat, poultry, and egg products inspection program.

7. Circumstances That Would Cause The Information Collection To Be Conducted In A Manner:

• requiring respondents to report informa­tion to the agency more often than quarterly;

• requiring respondents to prepare a writ­ten response to a collection of infor­ma­tion in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

• requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any docu­ment;

• requiring respondents to retain re­cords, other than health, medical, governm­ent contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

• in connection with a statisti­cal sur­vey, that is not de­signed to produce valid and reli­able results that can be general­ized to the uni­verse of study;

• requiring the use of a statis­tical data classi­fication that has not been re­vie­wed and approved by OMB;

• that includes a pledge of confiden­tiali­ty that is not supported by au­thority estab­lished in statute or regu­la­tion, that is not sup­ported by dis­closure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unneces­sarily impedes shar­ing of data with other agencies for com­patible confiden­tial use; or

• requiring respondents to submit propri­etary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demon­strate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permit­ted by law.

Individuals need only register once; hence, the information collection and recordkeeping activities in this submission are consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

8. Consultation With Persons Outside The Agency:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, FSIS published a 60-day notice (74 FR 55808) in the Federal Register on October 29, 2009 requesting comments regarding this information collection request. FSIS received one comment from a private citizen who objects to Agency policies.

FSIS did contact six individuals through NSF International (Cynthia Ellis; 734-827-5681). All six individuals thought it would take 10 minutes or less to register for the conference.

9. Payment or Gifts to Respondents:

Respondents will not receive any gifts or payments.

10. Confidentiality Provided To Respondents:

No assurances other than routine protection provided under the Freedom of Information Act have been provided to respondents.

11. Questions Of A Sensitive Nature:

The applicants are not asked to furnish any information of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Burden

The total burden estimate for the reporting and recordkeeping requirements associated with this information collection is 66.6 hours.

The Agency estimates that 400 individuals will respond once annually taking 10 minutes to register for the conference for a total of 66.6 hours.

FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Type of Respondent	No. of Respon-dents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Total Annual Responses	Time for Response in Mins.	Total Annual Time in Hours
Firms	400	1	400	10	66.6

The cost to the respondents is estimated at $799 annually. The Agency estimates that it will cost respondents $12 an hour in loss of potential salary fulfilling these paperwork requirements. Respondents will spend an annual total of 66.6 hours and $799.

13. Capital and Start-up Cost and Subsequent Maintenance

There are no capital and start-up costs and subsequent maintenance burdens.

14. Annual Cost To Federal Governments:

The cost to the Federal Government for these information collection requirements is $1,000 annually. The costs arise from money paid to NSF International to register individuals.

15. Reasons For Changes In Burden:

There is a new information collection of 66.6 total burden hours.

16. Tabulation, Analyses And Publication Plans:

There are no plans to publish the data for statistical use.

17. OMB Approval Number Display:

The OMB approval number will appear on required FSIS forms.

18. Exceptions to the Certification:

There are no exceptions to the certification. This information collection accords with the certification in item 19 of the OMB 83-I.

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