Appendix G_List of Interview Questions and Data Summary

Appendix G

Informational List of Interview Questions and Topics

Exploratory Semi-structured Interviews on Retail Food Loss
Agency: Economic Research Service
Contractor: RTI International

OMB Control Number: #0536-0073
Expiration Date: 04/30/2025

Appendix G: Informational List of Interview Questions and
Topics
This document provides (1) a summary of the study data confidentiality and security procedures, (2)
a list of the questions we will ask in the interview, and (3) an overview of a potential data request for a
national study that we will refer to during the interview.

Data Confidentiality and Security Procedures
The information provided in the interview will be protected under the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (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 (FOIA) requests.

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.
Interview Questions
Listed below are the questions we will ask in the interview. We provide this information for
informational purposes; you do NOT need to complete the questions before the interview.
Retail food loss refers to the weight of food that is received at the store but not sold or donated for
human consumption.
General Information
1. Please describe your company, such as number and format of stores, number of distribution
centers, geographic coverage, and banners under which you operate (if applicable).
Approaches to Tracking Food Loss and Donations
2. Do your stores track and measure unsold food products that are removed from the shelf? If yes,
how is this information recorded for products with a barcode versus random-weight products?
3. If your stores donate food to charitable organizations, how do your stores track and measure
the amount donated?

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4. If RTI requested raw data to calculate retail-level food loss as described in the Overview of
Possible Data Request for a National Study (provided at end of document), do you think this
approach would be feasible? What suggestions would you have for designing and implementing
this type of approach?
Shipments
5. Describe the process for receiving product shipments at the stores owned by your company (for
example, from distribution centers, wholesalers, direct shipments).
6. Do your company’s stores keep electronic records of shipment data on all products received? If
yes, what specific data are collected?
Sales
7. Do your stores maintain data on product sales electronically, that is, scanner data? If yes, what
specific data are collected?

Random-Weight Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Shipments and Packaging [if company has stores that sell
random-weight products]
8. [For companies with stores that cut, grind, or repackage meat, poultry, or seafood products in
the store and sell them as random-weight products] Do your stores maintain electronic
shipment data for the meat, poultry, or seafood products (e.g., whole carcass or fish) to be cut
and repackaged and then sold as random weight items? If yes, what specific data are collected?
9. Do your stores collect and maintain electronic data on the amount of random-weight product
cut and packaged in the store for retail sale? If yes, what specific data are collected?
Intra-store Transfers [if company has stores that do intra-store transfers]
By intra-store transfer we mean when products received for sale to consumers are instead used to make
prepared foods within the store, for example, cooking chicken from the meat department to make
chicken salad in the deli.
10. What specific data are maintained electronically on intra-store transfers?
General Data Collection Questions
11. What types of software systems are used to store and maintain data on shipment and sales?
12. If we proceed with a national study, we plan to provide participating companies with a
benchmarking report that compares their estimates of product-specific food loss shares with
national averages as a benefit for participation. Would such a report motivate your company to
participate in the study?
13. If we proceed with a national study, would your company be able to provide the types of data
we discussed for a 1-year period?
1. What would be the process for your company to get the necessary approvals to share
the data?
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2. Who at your company would be involved and what information would they need to be
able to share the data?
3. Would your company be willing to provide data for all stores under a particular banner
or would providing data for a sample of stores be more feasible?
14. About how many hours of staff time and calendar time do you estimate would be required to
provide the requested data for one store? How would this estimate change if you were asked to
provide data for multiple stores?
15. The informed consent provides information on the study data confidentiality and security
procedures. Do you have any questions about these procedures?
16. For a national study, we plan to collect data from several hundred stores. What is the best
approach for identifying who (e.g., job title) to initially contact to get buy-in for the study and
then identifying who collects and maintain the data we need? Will this vary by size and type of
company?

Overview of Potential Data Request for a National Study
Our proposed formula to calculate a retail-level food loss estimate by product category is the
percentage difference between product sales and product shipments into the store, with adjustments
for products packaged in the store, transferred within the store, and food donations. To calculate retaillevel food loss from raw data, we would need the following data for a 1-year period:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Product shipments into the store for UPC and random-weight products
Product sales (scanner data) for UPC and random-weight products
Products packaged in the store (for example, raw meat and poultry, if applicable)
Products transferred to other departments in the store (for example, ingredients for prepared
foods, if applicable)
5. Food donations, if applicable
For each type of data, we would need data fields like those shown below for the calculations:
Data Field

Description

Store ID

Unique identification for the store

Department

Section of store in which product is located (e.g., dairy, frozen foods)

Category

Food product category used by the store, if applicable

Barcode

UPC, GTIN, or other product code

Description

Text description of the barcode or product code

Date

Year (calendar or fiscal year) for annual data or week for weekly data

Units

Number of units received, transferred, sold, or donated

Weight

Weight per unit or volume per unit

Unit of Measure

Measurement standard for product (e.g., pounds, kilograms, liters)

Value

Total wholesale value of units received (cost of goods sold), or retail value of
product sold or donated

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