Appendix D Informed Consent_Rev_07_20_23

Appendix D

Informed Consent for Interviews

Exploratory Semi-structured Interviews on Retail Food Loss—Wave 2

Agency: Economic Research Service

Appendix D: Informed Consent

Informed Consent For Interview

Principal Investigator

Mary Muth, PhD

Center for Applied Economics and Strategy

RTI International

Purpose

Thank you for your willingness to participate in this interview. RTI International is conducting this study for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (USDA ERS). USDA is working to address the problem of food loss and waste through its programs, policies, and guidance. As part of these efforts, we are asking ten food retail companies to participate in confidential interviews to help inform the design of a potential national study on retail-level food loss.

Duration

We expect that participating in this study will take up to 67 minutes. This estimate includes up to 30 minutes for the interview itself and up to 37 minutes for scheduling the interview, reviewing and electronically signing 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. All interview participants will need to sign a written consent. Please let us know if there will be additional attendees.

Benefits and Risks

Although your participation in this research may not yield any direct benefits, participation may offer indirect benefits. Food loss is an issue of national and global importance with implications for nutrition security, environmental sustainability, and economic growth. With your input, USDA ERS may be able to improve the design and data collection procedures for developing updated national estimates of retail food loss.

Confidentiality

RTI will use Zoom to conduct the interview. RTI’s Zoom platform is configured to meet NIST-moderate requirements thus ensuring that the interview will be secure.

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.

Assurance of Confidentiality: The information you provide will be used for statistical purposes only. Your response will be kept confidential and any person who willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you or your company is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both. This study is conducted in accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018, Title III of Pub. L. No. 115-435, codified in 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35 and other applicable Federal laws.

Information Requests

Should you have any questions or concerns about the study, you may contact us at any time. The principal investigator may be reached via email at muth@rti.org or via telephone at
919-541-7289.

Withdrawal of Participation

Your participation is voluntary. You may skip questions as you wish and may discontinue participation at any time.

Please click here to electronically sign the informed consent before the scheduled interview.

[Qualtrics link] – the link states “I have read and understand the informed consent. I agree to participate in an exploratory interview on retail food loss”.

Name___________________________________ Date_____________________]

NOTIFICATION TO RESPONDENT OF ESTIMATED BURDEN: Public reporting burden for this Informed Consent is estimated to average 5 minutes per response. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is #0536-0073. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Linda Kantor, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (linda.kantor@usda.gov).