Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards, 75760-75762 [E6-21472]
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75760
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 242 / Monday, December 18, 2006 / Notices
medications during pregnancy and
lactation at the time they are marketed.
Nevertheless, many women
inadvertently use medications early in
gestation before realizing they are
pregnant, and many maternal conditions
require treatment during pregnancy and
breastfeeding to safeguard the health of
both mother and infant. Currently, the
United States does not have a
comprehensive early warning system for
major adverse pregnancy or infant
outcomes related to medication
exposures.
Teratology Information Services (TIS)
utilize trained specialists to provide free
phone consultation, risk assessment,
and counseling about exposures during
pregnancy and breastfeeding—including
medications—to women and healthcare
providers. Altogether, they respond to
approximately 70,000–100,000 inquiries
each year in the United States and
Canada. Because they have direct
contact with pregnant and breastfeeding
women, TIS are in a unique position to
monitor the adverse effects of
medication exposures during pregnancy
and lactation. The objective of this
participate in a follow-up study.
Informed consent to participate will be
obtained from each woman by
telephone. For each pregnant woman
who agrees to participate, the TIS will
conduct 4 telephone interviews:(1) At
enrollment; (2) during the third
trimester of pregnancy; (3)
approximately one month after delivery;
and (4) when the infant is about 3
months old. For each breastfeeding
woman who agrees to participate, the
TIS will conduct 3 telephone
interviews:(1) At enrollment; (2)
approximately one month after
enrollment; and (3) 3 months after
enrollment, if the woman is still taking
medication and still breastfeeding. The
interviews will assess maternal and fetal
health throughout pregnancy, and
maternal and infant health at delivery,
during the newborn and early infancy
period, and while breastfeeding, and
correlate these outcomes with
medication exposure during pregnancy
and while breastfeeding. There is no
cost to respondents other than their
time.
project is to conduct a pilot study to
assess whether TIS in the United States
can serve as an effective monitoring and
early warning system for major adverse
effects on (1) pregnancy outcomes (e.g.,
live birth, stillbirth, premature birth,
low birth weight, etc.) and (2) maternal
and infant health. The project will
assess the willingness of pregnant and
breastfeeding women who contact a TIS
about medication exposure to
participate in and complete a follow-up
study; whether these women are similar
in demographic characteristics to the
U.S. population of child-bearing age
women; the specificity and
completeness of the information
obtained from such a study about
adverse pregnancy outcomes, and
maternal and infant health; and the
amount of time required to conduct the
follow-up.
Within a continuous six-month
period, three individual TIS will recruit
all women who contact their service
(approximately 250 enrollees per TIS)
who have used any prescription or overthe-counter medication during
pregnancy or while breastfeeding to
ESTIMATE OF ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS
Number of
responses per
respondent
Number of
respondents
Respondent
Avg. burden
per response
(in hours)
Total burden
(in hours)
Prenatal exposure group alone .......................................................................
Lactation exposure group alone ......................................................................
Prenatal exposure group and lactation exposure group (pregnant women
who subsequently breastfeed) .....................................................................
338
74
4
3
20/60
20/60
451
74
338
4
30/60
676
Total ..........................................................................................................
750
........................
........................
1,201
Dated: December 12, 2006.
Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. E6–21527 Filed 12–15–06; 8:45 am]
that a proposed collection of
information has been submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance under
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
BILLING CODE 4163–18–P
DATES:
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
ADDRESSES:
Fax written comments on the
collection of information by January 17,
2007.
To ensure that comments on
the information collection are received,
OMB recommends that written
comments be faxed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs,
OMB, Attn: FDA Desk Officer, FAX:
202–395–6974.
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2006D–0246]
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for Office of
Management and Budget Review;
Comment Request; Manufactured
Food Regulatory Program Standards
AGENCY:
Food and Drug Administration,
HHS.
ACTION:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Notice.
16:16 Dec 15, 2006
In
compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA
has submitted the following proposed
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is announcing
SUMMARY:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
Elizabeth Berbakos, Office of the Chief
Information Officer (HFA–250), Food
and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301–827–
1482.
Jkt 211001
PO 00000
Frm 00053
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
collection of information to OMB for
review and clearance.
Manufactured Food Regulatory
Program Standards
The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) is announcing the availability of
a draft document entitled
‘‘Manufactured Food Regulatory
Program Standards: (draft program
standards). The draft program standards,
which establish a uniform foundation
for the design and management of State
programs responsible for regulation of
plants that manufacture, process, pack,
or hold foods in the United States, are
being distributed for comment purposed
only. This document is neither final nor
is it intended for implementation.
The elements of the draft program
standards are intended to ensure that
the States have the best practices of a
high-quality regulatory program to use
for self-assessment and continuous
improvement and innovation. The ten
standards describe the critical elements
E:\FR\FM\18DEN1.SGM
18DEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 242 / Monday, December 18, 2006 / Notices
of a regulatory program designed to
protect the public from foodborne
illness and injury. These elements
include the State program’s regulatory
foundation, staff training, inspection,
quality assurance, food defense
preparedness and response, foodborne
illness and incident investigation,
enforcement, education and outreach,
resource management, laboratory
resources, and program assessment.
Each standard has corresponding selfassessment worksheets, and certain
standards have supplemental
worksheets and forms that will assist
State programs in determining their
level of conformance with the standard.
The State program is not required to
use the forms and worksheets contained
herein; however, alternate forms should
be equivalent to the forms and
worksheets in the draft program
standards. These draft program
standards do not address the
performance appraisal processes that a
State agency may use to evaluate
individual employee performance.
When finalized, FDA will use the
program standards as a tool to improve
contracts with State agencies. The
program standards will assist both FDA
and the States in fulfilling their
regulatory obligations.
The implementation of the program
standards will be negotiated as an
option for payment under the State
contract. States that are awarded this
option will receive up to $5,000 to
perform the self assessment and to
maintain an operational plan for self
improvement. FDA recognizes that full
use and implementation of the program
standards by those States will take
several years. Such States will, however,
be expected to implement improvement
plans to demonstrate that their programs
are moving toward full implementation.
Those self assessments and
improvement plans will be audited as a
part of the program oversight of the FDA
state contracts.
The goal is to enhance food safety by
establishing a uniform basis for
measuring and improving the
performance of manufactured food
regulatory programs in the United
States. The development and
implementation of these program
standards will help Federal and State
programs better direct their regulatory
activities at reducing foodborne illness
hazards in plants that manufacture,
process, pack, or hold foods.
Consequently, the safety and security of
the food supply in the United States
will improve.
In the Federal Register of July 20,
2006 (FR 71 41221), FDA published a
60-day notice requesting public
comment on the information collection
provisions in the draft program
standards. FDA received a number of
comments on the draft program
standards; however, only two letters of
comment included comments regarding
the information collection provisions.
An additional letter supported the
comments provided in one of the two
letters of comment.
Two comments stated that the record
collection required to meet the
standards is cumbersome and
voluminous. FDA does not agree with
the comments about the record
collection. The record collection
requested by the program standards is
not outside the information collected
and reported by an efficient and
effective regulatory program. The
program standards capture the State
program’s accomplishments in
standardized forms.
FDA reminds you that in the draft
program standards FDA anticipates full
75761
implementation of the program
standards will take several years so that
State programs can integrate the
program standards into its own quality
assurance programs. FDA estimates that
the majority of the State agencies have
quality assurance programs and only a
minimum amount of time would be
necessary to revise or update them to
comply with the program standards.
Ultimately, the program standards will
assist both FDA and the States in
fulfilling their regulatory obligations
and developing strategies that will
continuously improve the State
programs.
Furthermore, the total estimated
burden under the draft program
standards did not consider the use of
forms in Portable Document Format
(PDF) that will be filled and submitted
electronically. The PDF fill-in forms
will reduce the estimated burden for
both the reporting and recordkeeping
burdens and should be accessible when
the program standards are negotiated as
an option for payment under the State
contracts.
One comment requested that
alternative mechanisms to document
compliance with the standards be
permitted. FDA further reminds you
that in the draft program standards we
provide for using alternate forms.
In revising the draft program
standards, FDA will consider the
general comments on draft program
standards.
Because State agencies already keep
records of the usual and customary
activities required by their inspection
programs, the burden from compiling
these records is not included in the
burden chart.
FDA estimates the burden of this
collection of information as follows:
TABLE 1.—ESTIMATED ANNUAL REPORTING BURDEN1
No. of Respondents
Annual Frequency per
Response
40
Total Annual Responses
0.5
1There
Hours per Response
20
Total Hours
40
800
are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.
TABLE 2.—ESTIMATED FIVE-YEAR SELF ASSESSMENT BURDEN1
Number of Respondents
Five-Year Frequency per
Response
40
Total Five-year Responses
1
Hours per Response2
40
100/40
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
1The
Total Hours2
4,000/1,600
initial self assessment is estimated at 100 hours per respondent. Subsequent updates of the self assessments will be conducted every
five years and should be completed in 40 hours or less.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:16 Dec 15, 2006
Jkt 211001
PO 00000
Frm 00054
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\18DEN1.SGM
18DEN1
75762
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 242 / Monday, December 18, 2006 / Notices
TABLE 3.—ESTIMATED ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN BURDEN
Annual Frequency Per
Response
No. of Respondents
40
1
Dated: December 11, 2006.
Jeffrey Shuren,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. E6–21472 Filed 12–15–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160–01–S
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2006N–0036]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for Office of
Management and Budget Review;
Comment Request; Experimental
Study of Possible Footnotes and
Cueing Schemes to Help Consumers
Interpret Quantitative Trans Fat
Disclosure on the Nutrition Facts Panel
AGENCY:
Food and Drug Administration,
HHS.
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY: The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is announcing
that a proposed collection of
information has been submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance under
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Fax written comments on the
collection of information by December
18, 2006.
DATES:
To ensure that comments on
the information collection are received,
OMB recommends that written
comments be faxed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs,
OMB, Attn: FDA Desk Officer, FAX:
202–395–6974.
ADDRESSES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jonna Capezzuto, Office of the Chief
Information Officer (HFA–250), Food
and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301–827–
4659.
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Total Annual Responses
In
compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA
has submitted the following proposed
collection of information to OMB for
review and clearance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:16 Dec 15, 2006
Jkt 211001
Hours per Response
40
Experimental Study of Possible
Footnotes and Cueing Schemes to Help
Consumers Interpret Quantitative Trans
Fat Disclosure on the Nutrition Facts
Panel—(OMB Control Number 0910–
0532—Reinstatement)
FDA is requesting OMB approval of
an experimental study of possible
footnotes and cueing schemes intended
to help consumers interpret quantitative
trans fat information on the Nutrition
Facts Panel (NFP) of a food product. The
purpose of the experimental study is to
help FDA’s Center for Food Safety and
Applied Nutrition formulate decisions
and policies affecting labeling
requirements for trans fat disclosure.
In the Federal Register of July 11,
2003 (68 FR 41434), FDA issued a final
rule requiring disclosure on the
Nutrition Facts Panel of quantitative
trans fat information on a separate line
without any accompanying footnote. At
the same time, the agency issued an
advance notice of proposed rulemaking
entitled ‘‘Food Labeling: Trans Fatty
Acids in Nutrition Labeling; Consumer
Research to Consider Nutrient Content
and Health Claims and Possible
Footnote or Disclosure Statements’’ (68
FR 41507) which requested comments
about possible footnotes to help
consumers better understand trans fat
declarations on the product label. The
agency sought comments about whether
it should consider requiring statements
about trans fat, either alone or in
combination with saturated fat and
cholesterol, as a footnote on the
Nutrition Facts Panel to enhance
consumers’ understanding about such
cholesterol-raising lipids and how to
use information on the label to make
healthy food choices. Comments
received in response to the notice
contained suggested footnotes and
cueing schemes. The proposed
experimental study will evaluate the
ability of several possible footnotes and
cueing schemes to help consumers make
heart-healthy food choices. The results
of the experimental study will provide
empirical support for possible policy
decisions about the need for such
requirements and the appropriate form
they should take.
FDA or its contractor will use
information gathered from Internet
panel samples to evaluate how
consumers understand and respond to
PO 00000
Frm 00055
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Total Hours
5
200
possible footnote and cueing schemes.
The distinctive features of Internet
panels for the purpose of the
experimental study are that they allow
for controlled visual presentation of
study materials, experimental
manipulation of study materials, and
the random assignment of subjects to
condition. Experimental manipulation
of labels and random assignment to
condition makes it possible to estimate
the effects of the various possible
footnotes and cueing schemes while
controlling for individual differences
between subjects. Random assignment
ensures that mean differences between
conditions can be tested using wellknown techniques such as analysis of
variance or regression analysis to yield
statistically valid estimates of effect
size. The study will be conducted using
a convenience sample drawn from a
large, national consumer panel of about
one million households.
Participants will be adults, age 18 and
older, who are recruited for a study
about foods and food labels. Each
participant will be randomly assigned to
1 of the 54 experimental conditions
derived from fully crossing 8 possible
footnotes/cueing schemes, 3 product
types, and 2 prior knowledge
conditions.
FDA will use the information from the
experimental study to evaluate
regulatory and policy options. The
agency often lacks empirical data about
how consumers understand and
respond to statements they might see in
product labeling. The information
gathered from this experimental study
will be used to estimate consumer
comprehension and the behavioral
impact of various footnotes and cueing
schemes intended to help consumers
better understand quantitative trans fat
information.
The experimental study data will be
collected using participants of an
Internet panel of approximately one
million people. Participation in the
experimental study is voluntary.
In the Federal Register of February 6,
2006 (71 FR 6079), FDA published a 60day notice requesting public comment
on the information collection that will
take place as part of the experimental
study. FDA received two letters in
response to the notice, each containing
multiple comments.
E:\FR\FM\18DEN1.SGM
18DEN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 242 (Monday, December 18, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75760-75762]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-21472]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2006D-0246]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office
of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Manufactured Food
Regulatory Program Standards
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a
proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Fax written comments on the collection of information by January
17, 2007.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that comments on the information collection are
received, OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: FDA Desk Officer,
FAX: 202-395-6974.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Berbakos, Office of the
Chief Information Officer (HFA-250), Food and Drug Administration, 5600
Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-1482.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA has
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for
review and clearance.
Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the
availability of a draft document entitled ``Manufactured Food
Regulatory Program Standards: (draft program standards). The draft
program standards, which establish a uniform foundation for the design
and management of State programs responsible for regulation of plants
that manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods in the United States,
are being distributed for comment purposed only. This document is
neither final nor is it intended for implementation.
The elements of the draft program standards are intended to ensure
that the States have the best practices of a high-quality regulatory
program to use for self-assessment and continuous improvement and
innovation. The ten standards describe the critical elements
[[Page 75761]]
of a regulatory program designed to protect the public from foodborne
illness and injury. These elements include the State program's
regulatory foundation, staff training, inspection, quality assurance,
food defense preparedness and response, foodborne illness and incident
investigation, enforcement, education and outreach, resource
management, laboratory resources, and program assessment. Each standard
has corresponding self-assessment worksheets, and certain standards
have supplemental worksheets and forms that will assist State programs
in determining their level of conformance with the standard.
The State program is not required to use the forms and worksheets
contained herein; however, alternate forms should be equivalent to the
forms and worksheets in the draft program standards. These draft
program standards do not address the performance appraisal processes
that a State agency may use to evaluate individual employee
performance. When finalized, FDA will use the program standards as a
tool to improve contracts with State agencies. The program standards
will assist both FDA and the States in fulfilling their regulatory
obligations.
The implementation of the program standards will be negotiated as
an option for payment under the State contract. States that are awarded
this option will receive up to $5,000 to perform the self assessment
and to maintain an operational plan for self improvement. FDA
recognizes that full use and implementation of the program standards by
those States will take several years. Such States will, however, be
expected to implement improvement plans to demonstrate that their
programs are moving toward full implementation. Those self assessments
and improvement plans will be audited as a part of the program
oversight of the FDA state contracts.
The goal is to enhance food safety by establishing a uniform basis
for measuring and improving the performance of manufactured food
regulatory programs in the United States. The development and
implementation of these program standards will help Federal and State
programs better direct their regulatory activities at reducing
foodborne illness hazards in plants that manufacture, process, pack, or
hold foods. Consequently, the safety and security of the food supply in
the United States will improve.
In the Federal Register of July 20, 2006 (FR 71 41221), FDA
published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the information
collection provisions in the draft program standards. FDA received a
number of comments on the draft program standards; however, only two
letters of comment included comments regarding the information
collection provisions. An additional letter supported the comments
provided in one of the two letters of comment.
Two comments stated that the record collection required to meet the
standards is cumbersome and voluminous. FDA does not agree with the
comments about the record collection. The record collection requested
by the program standards is not outside the information collected and
reported by an efficient and effective regulatory program. The program
standards capture the State program's accomplishments in standardized
forms.
FDA reminds you that in the draft program standards FDA anticipates
full implementation of the program standards will take several years so
that State programs can integrate the program standards into its own
quality assurance programs. FDA estimates that the majority of the
State agencies have quality assurance programs and only a minimum
amount of time would be necessary to revise or update them to comply
with the program standards. Ultimately, the program standards will
assist both FDA and the States in fulfilling their regulatory
obligations and developing strategies that will continuously improve
the State programs.
Furthermore, the total estimated burden under the draft program
standards did not consider the use of forms in Portable Document Format
(PDF) that will be filled and submitted electronically. The PDF fill-in
forms will reduce the estimated burden for both the reporting and
recordkeeping burdens and should be accessible when the program
standards are negotiated as an option for payment under the State
contracts.
One comment requested that alternative mechanisms to document
compliance with the standards be permitted. FDA further reminds you
that in the draft program standards we provide for using alternate
forms.
In revising the draft program standards, FDA will consider the
general comments on draft program standards.
Because State agencies already keep records of the usual and
customary activities required by their inspection programs, the burden
from compiling these records is not included in the burden chart.
FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as
follows:
Table 1.--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. of Annual Frequency per
Respondents Response Total Annual Responses Hours per Response Total Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 0.5 20 40 800
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.
Table 2.--Estimated Five-Year Self Assessment Burden\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Five-Year Frequency per Total Five-year
Respondents Response Responses Hours per Response\2\ Total Hours\2\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 1 40 100/40 4,000/1,600
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\The initial self assessment is estimated at 100 hours per respondent. Subsequent updates of the self
assessments will be conducted every five years and should be completed in 40 hours or less.
[[Page 75762]]
Table 3.--Estimated Annual Improvement Plan Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. of Annual Frequency Per
Respondents Response Total Annual Responses Hours per Response Total Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 1 40 5 200
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dated: December 11, 2006.
Jeffrey Shuren,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. E6-21472 Filed 12-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S