supporting statement A foodborne illness outbreak investigation survey 10072021

SUPPORTING STATEMENT JUSTIFICATION FOR

FOODBORNE ILLNESS OUTBREAK SURVEYS FOR FSIS PUBLIC HEALTH PARTNERS

1. Circumstances Making Collection Of Information Necessary:

This is a request to revise the information collection for surveys for FSIS public health partners regarding foodborne illness outbreak investigations.

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, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled and packaged. FSIS also inspects exotic animals and rabbits under the authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.).

FSIS intends to collect information from state and territorial government partners on ways to strengthen the collaborative response to illness outbreaks associated with FSIS-regulated food products. The purpose of this information collection is to inform FSIS partner outreach efforts in order to effectively investigate and prevent foodborne illnesses.

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

The following is a discussion of the information collection activities.

To promote successful partnerships, FSIS administers a series of surveys regarding foodborne illness outbreak investigation to its partners, including employees of state, territorial, and local governments. This will also occur as part of the after-action review process. The results of these surveys will help FSIS prioritize outreach efforts. Surveys are conducted as needed, including as part of foodborne illness outbreak after-action reviews.

3. Use Of Improved Information Technology:

Under the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, FSIS permits the use of electronic recordkeeping. The Agency estimates that 100 percent of the surveys will be conducted electronically.

4. Efforts To Identify Duplication:

FSIS has determined that this information collection will not duplicate any other information collections. There is no other available information that can be used or modified.

5. Methods To Minimize Burden On Small Business Entities:

There are no small businesses affected by this information collection. None of the respondents are small businesses.

6. Consequences If Information Were Collected Less Frequently:

To conduct the information collections less frequently will reduce the effectiveness of FSIS inspection programs.

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

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, Notice of Request for a New Information Collection (Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation Survey for FSIS Public Health Partners) on July 7, 2021, (86 FR 35730). The Agency received no relevant comments. FSIS also contacted Patrick Jones, 703-792-6312; Justin Henderson, 517-284-4950; and Michael Needham, 916-650-6705 to request input on the Agency’s burden estimate. All three individuals agreed with the Agency’s burden estimate of 20 minutes to complete the survey. Therefore, the Agency is making no change to the estimated time for completion. NASS also reviewed the collection package.

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 associated with this information collection is 67 hours.

The Agency estimates that 200 state and territorial government partners will respond 1 time annually taking 20 minutes to supply the information regarding foodborne illness outbreaks for a total of 67 hours.

FOODBORNE ILLNESS OUTBREAK SURVEYS

Type of Establish- Ment	No. of Respon-dents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Total Annual Responses	Time for Response in Mins.	Total Annual Time in Hours
FSIS Partners	200	1	200	20	67

The cost to the respondents is estimated at $3,727 annually. The Agency estimates that it will cost respondents $55.63 an hour, including fringe benefits, in fulfilling these information collection requirements. Respondents will spend an annual total of 67 hours and $3,727. The hourly rate for the respondents was attained from the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor and Statistics wage data, May, 2020.

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 Government:

The cost to the Federal Government for these information collection requirements is $3,509 annually. The costs arise primarily from the time spent by FSIS staff developing and administering the survey, as well as analyzing and reporting the survey data. The Agency estimates a cost of $50.12 per hour, including fringe benefits, for the FSIS staff.

15. Reasons For Changes In Burden:

There is an increase in the overall burden from 18 to 67 hours due to an increase in the estimated number of respondents from 106 to 200 and a longer estimated response time from 10 minutes to 20 minutes per response. There is also an increase in the number of responses from 112 to 200 due to the increased number of surveys FSIS expects to administer which will also now occur as part of the after-action review process.

16. Tabulation, Analyses And Publication Plans:

FSIS may present the results to public health partners, such as local, state, and federal agency employees.

17. OMB Approval Number Display:

FSIS will display the OMB approval number on the survey any instructions it publishes relating to the survey for foodborne illness outbreaks. The expiration date will be included in the survey.

18. Exceptions to the Certification:

There are no exceptions to the certification.

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