Appendix F1_Disclaimer

Appendix F-1

Disclaimer for Interviews

Exploratory Semi-structured Interviews on Retail Food Loss

Agency: Economic Research Service

Contractor: RTI International

Appendix F-1: Disclaimer for Interviews

Disclaimer

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0536-0073 (expires 04/30/2025). This information collection is conducted under the authority of 7 U.S.C. 2204(a). We expect that participating in this study will take 2 hours and 7 minutes. This estimate includes 90 minutes for the interview itself and up to 37 minutes for the time spent scheduling the interview, reviewing the disclaimer, reviewing and completing the informed consent, reviewing the list of interview topics, and corresponding with RTI via email or phone to answer any questions you may have about the study. Your participation in this information collection is voluntary.

The data are being collected under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act, otherwise known as CIPSEA. CIPSEA provides protection for information collected for statistical purposes under a pledge of confidentiality. CIPSEA-protected information is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. RTI will combine your interview responses with the responses from other companies to prepare a summary report for USDA, ERS. USDA ERS will not have access to your individual responses or the names of companies that participated in the interviews.

Assurance of Confidentiality: All information which would permit identification of an individual, a practice, or an establishment will be held confidential, will be used for statistical purposes only, will be used only by contractors authorized by USDA ERS to perform statistical activities only when required and with necessary controls, and will not be disclosed or released to other persons without the consent of the individual or establishment in accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (PL-107-347). By law, every employee as well as every agent has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term of up to five years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you or your company.