80 FR 53759 - Privacy Act of 1974; New System of Records

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Secretary

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 173 (September 8, 2015)

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes to establish a new system of records titled USDA/FSIS-03 Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) II. The mission of FSIS is to protect public health by ensuring that meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled. Thus, the Agency must detect food safety vulnerabilities as early and as specifically as possible so that the potential for harm can be promptly prevented, reduced, or eliminated. The CCMS II helps FSIS to effectively identify potentially unsafe meat, poultry, or processed egg products regulated by FSIS by recording, sorting, analyzing, and tracking consumer complaints regarding products' potential adverse effects, and by tracking any subsequent analyses and investigations of those complaints.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 173 (Tuesday, September 8, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53759-53764]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22085]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. FSIS-2011-0030]


Privacy Act of 1974; New System of Records

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of proposed new system of records; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes to establish a new 
system of

[[Page 53760]]

records titled USDA/FSIS-03 Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) 
Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) II.
    The mission of FSIS is to protect public health by ensuring that 
meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, and 
accurately labeled. Thus, the Agency must detect food safety 
vulnerabilities as early and as specifically as possible so that the 
potential for harm can be promptly prevented, reduced, or eliminated. 
The CCMS II helps FSIS to effectively identify potentially unsafe meat, 
poultry, or processed egg products regulated by FSIS by recording, 
sorting, analyzing, and tracking consumer complaints regarding 
products' potential adverse effects, and by tracking any subsequent 
analyses and investigations of those complaints.

DATES: Effective Date: October 8, 2015. If no comments are received, 
the proposal will become effective on above date. If comments are 
received, they will be considered and, where adopted, the document will 
be republished with changes.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number FSIS-
2011-0030, by one of the following methods.
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Director, Applied Epidemiology Division, Office of 
Public Health Science, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250.
    Fax: (202) 720-8213.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided.
     Docket: For access to the docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions, please contact 
Dr. Karen Becker, Director, Applied Epidemiology Staff, Office of 
Public Health Systems, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20024; telephone (202) 690-6045. For 
privacy questions, please contact Ravoyne Payton, Acting Chief Privacy 
Officer, Policy, E-Government and Fair Information Practices, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
DC 20250; telephone (202) 720-8755.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 
U.S.C. 552a), requires agencies to publish in the Federal Register a 
notice of new or revised systems of records maintained by the agency. A 
system of records contains information that is retrieved by an 
individual's name or other unique identifier. FSIS is proposing to 
establish a new Privacy Act system of records, entitled USDA/FSIS-03, 
FSIS Consumer Complaint Monitoring System II (CCMS II), a relational 
database that collects information, retrieved by name or a unique 
identifying number assigned to an individual, to assist FSIS with 
trace-back or trace-forward investigations and characterization of 
foodborne hazards. The primary goal of the CCMS II electronic database 
is to support and augment FSIS analysts in their ability to identify 
consumer health risks associated with regulated products. The CCMS II 
will assist FSIS to accomplish its safety mission by quickly and 
effectively identifying potentially unsafe meat, poultry, or processed 
egg products. More specifically, CCMS II helps FSIS to analyze, 
evaluate, and identify foodborne hazards in its regulated products; to 
assess the risk to human health; and to determine the appropriate 
response to known, emerging, or potential threats to the food supply or 
to the agriculture sector. Paper records printed from the electronic 
database are stored only in limited quantities and on rare occasions 
and are retrieved when needed as working copies. Such paper records are 
shredded upon termination of the need for a working copy. Information 
gathered and entered into CCMS II supports investigations that can 
involve trace back to sources of foodborne illness outbreaks and 
tracing hazardous product forward to identify distribution and 
disposition. Among other activities, CCMS II data and investigations 
may support complaint-related verification of hazard analysis and 
critical control points in producing establishments, analysis of school 
lunch product manufacturing specifications associated with an outbreak 
involving a National School Lunch Program product, and recall 
coordination for products identified as being adulterated or 
unwholesome. If a complaint involves an incident that is determined to 
be non-routine, alerts will be provided to management.
    A complaint that is put into CCMS II can be initiated in any of the 
following ways: (1) Calls from consumers or their representatives, or 
from representatives of State or local health departments and Federal 
agencies, including USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and 
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), (2) electronic hand-off from the 
USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline system, and (3) web forms submitted by 
consumers. Trained analysts review the complaint information. Once 
reviewed, the case is entered into the system directly or indirectly 
via a transfer from the Meat and Poultry Hotline System.
    Epidemiologists in the FSIS Office of Public Health Science (OPHS) 
analyze the information in CCMS II to determine necessary further 
analyses, investigation, or processing. OPHS leads the management and 
investigation of all cases entered into the system. Technical and 
scientific support is provided to other program areas, as necessary.
    Personal information about individuals collected in CCMS II 
includes first and last name, home or work address, telephone number or 
email, and details of the complaint, which can include medical symptoms 
and medical treatment obtained. Specific information about food items 
eaten also is collected in CCMS II. A unique case number is assigned to 
each complaint and provided to the individual making the report and can 
be used in lieu of or in addition to the personal information noted 
above for retrieving system information.
    Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), the 
Poultry Product Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.), and the Egg 
Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.), FSIS is authorized to 
inspect and regulate the production of meat, poultry, and egg products 
and to prevent the sale and movement in commerce of adulterated or 
misbranded articles in order to fulfill its food safety mission. In 
addition, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to give high 
priority to enhancing the ability of FSIS ``. . . to ensure the safety 
and wholesomeness of meat and poultry products;'' to strengthen the 
ability of FSIS ``to collaborate with relevant agencies within the 
Department of Agriculture and with other entities in the Federal 
Government, the States, and Indian tribes . . . through the sharing of 
information and technology;'' and expanding the capacity of FSIS ``to 
protect against the threat of bioterrorism'' (21 U.S.C. 679c (a)(1)(3) 
and (4)).
    In summary, all of these authorities allow FSIS to perform the 
functions of this system: To gather and maintain information related to 
foodborne hazards that will support investigations aimed to trace back 
foodborne illness outbreaks to its sources and to identify potentially 
unsafe meat, poultry, or processed egg products from entering commerce; 
to collaborate with federal,

[[Page 53761]]

State, local, and tribal public health partners in identifying 
potentially unsafe meat or poultry products; and to assess probable 
threats or risks to the food supply and devise an adequate response, to 
ultimately achieve its food safety mission.

Background

    CCMS II system programs and use of resources comply with procedures 
for avoiding waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement; for obtaining, 
reporting, and using reliable and timely information for decision-
making; and for appropriately identifying and managing program risks. 
To enable management and audit oversight, CCMS II includes management 
controls and performance measures for supported activities to ensure 
that decision-making is accurate, timely, complete, and effective.
    There are no Privacy Act exemptions being made for this 
application. Consistent with USDA's public health mission, information 
stored in CCMS II may be shared with other USDA components, as well as 
with appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, foreign, or 
international government agencies. This sharing will take place only 
after USDA determines that the receiving component or agency has a need 
to know the information to carry out national security, law 
enforcement, immigration, intelligence, or other functions consistent 
with the routine uses set forth in this system of records notice.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), as implemented by Office of 
Management and Budget Circular A-130, FSIS has provided a report of 
this new system of records to: The Chairman, Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate; the Ranking 
Member, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United 
States Senate; the Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform, House of Representatives; the Ranking Member, Committee on 
Oversight and Governmental Reform, House of Representatives; and the 
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget.

Alfred V. Almanza,
Acting Administrator.
USDA/FSIS-03

System of records name:
    USDA/FSIS-03, FSIS Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) II.

Security classification:
    Unclassified.

System location:
    Records are maintained at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250, and at USDA's National 
Information Technology Center facility at 8930 Ward Parkway, Kansas 
City, Missouri 64114.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Federal employees and private citizens involved in an FSIS 
investigation, including individuals who submit complaints; those who 
work in the food industry under FSIS' inspection, such as private 
citizens who operate or work at establishments; those who work for 
operations that may be subject to FSIS surveillance or enforcement, 
such as private citizens employed at retail operations that grind meat 
or poultry; members of volunteer organizations who prepare or have 
prepared food; and State, tribal, and local government employees 
responsible for food safety or public health.

Categories of records in the system:
    This system contains information pertaining to investigations of 
consumer complaints to aid in identifying and tracking potential public 
health crises. This information includes personal information, such as 
first and last names, home or work address, telephone number or email, 
and details concerning medical symptoms and care and cause of 
complaint. Each record is associated with an assigned case code to ease 
retrieval.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
     Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.);
     Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); and
     Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C 1031 et seq.).

Responsible agency official for system:
    Dr. David Goldman, Assistant Administrator, Office of Public Health 
Science (OPHS), Food Safety and Inspection Service(FSIS), U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20250, Rm. 341-E JLW Bldg. Telephone (202) 720-2644.
    Or Dr. Karen Becker, Director Applied Epidemiology Division, Office 
of Public Health Science, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20250. Telephone (202) 690-6045; Fax:(202) 720-8213.

Purposes:
    The records provided by and about individuals in this system are 
used by FSIS to sort, evaluate, and investigate possible adverse 
effects from FSIS-regulated products. The information also supports 
trace back to the source of foodborne illness outbreaks and tracing 
hazardous products forward to identify distribution and disposition. 
CCMS II data and associated processes help FSIS to analyze, evaluate, 
and identify foodborne hazards in products regulated by the Agency; to 
assess the risk to human health; and to determine the appropriate 
response to known, emerging, or potential threats to the food supply or 
to the agriculture sector.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974, all or a portion of the records or 
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside USDA as a 
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
    1. To the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) (including United States 
Attorney Offices) or other Federal agency conducting litigation, or in 
proceedings before any court, adjudicative or administrative body, when 
it is necessary for the litigation, and one of the following is a party 
to the litigation or has an interest in the litigation:
    a. USDA or any component thereof;
    b. any employee of USDA in his/her official capacity;
    c. any employee of USDA in his/her individual capacity where DOJ or 
USDA has agreed to represent the employee; or
    d. the United States or any agency thereof, and USDA determines 
that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and 
the use of such records is compatible with the purpose for which USDA 
collected the records.
    2. To a congressional office from the record of an individual in 
response to an inquiry from that congressional office made at the 
written request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
    3. To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or 
other Federal government agencies pursuant to records management 
inspections being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 
2906.
    4. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of 
performing audit or oversight operations as authorized by law, but only 
such information as is necessary and relevant to such audit or 
oversight function. This would include, but not be limited to the

[[Page 53762]]

Comptroller General or any of his authorized representatives in the 
course of the performance of the duties of the Government 
Accountability Office, or USDA's Office of the Inspector General or any 
authorized representatives of that office.
    5. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
    a. USDA or FSIS suspects or has confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised;
    b. USDA has determined that, as a result of the suspected or 
confirmed compromise, there is a risk of harm to economic or property 
interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or 
integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether 
maintained by USDA or another agency or entity), or harm to the 
individual or individuals that rely upon the compromised information; 
and
    c. The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with USDA's efforts to 
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, 
or remedy such harm.
    6. To contractors and their agents, grantees, experts, consultants, 
and others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, 
cooperative agreement, or other assignment for USDA, when necessary to 
accomplish an agency function related to this system of records. 
Individuals who provided information under this routine use are subject 
to the same Privacy Act requirements and limitations on disclosure as 
are applicable to USDA officers and employees.
    7. To an appropriate Federal, State, tribal, local, international, 
or foreign law enforcement agency or other appropriate authority 
charged with investigating or prosecuting a violation or enforcing or 
implementing a law, rule, regulation, or order, where a record, either 
on its face or in conjunction with other information, indicates a 
violation or potential violation of law, which includes criminal, 
civil, or regulatory violations and such disclosure is proper and 
consistent with the official duties of the person making the 
disclosure.
    8. To an appropriate Federal, State, tribal, local, international, 
or foreign law enforcement agency or appropriate authority responsible 
for protecting public health, preventing or monitoring disease or 
illness outbreaks, or ensuring the safety of the food supply. This 
includes the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies, 
including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food 
and Drug Administration, other Federal agencies, and State, tribal, and 
local health departments. Certain complaint-related information may be 
shared with the producing establishment for purposes of investigating 
the complaints. Except as stated, disclosure is made pursuant to 
requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
    None

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Records in this system are stored electronically in a dedicated 
virtual server or on paper in secure facilities in a locked drawer 
behind a locked door within USDA facilities. Electronically stored 
records, including backup records maintained on their own dedicated 
virtual server in a separate location, are stored on magnetic disc, 
tape, digital media, and CD-ROM. (Paper records are printed from 
electronic storage only in limited quantities and on rare occasions 
when needed as working copies. Such paper records are kept in secure 
facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door within USDA 
facilities, and immediately are shredded upon termination of the need 
for a working copy.) Security guards safeguard the buildings where the 
electronic and the working copies of records reside.

Retrievability:
    Retrieval is generally performed using the case code (a 
sequentially assigned, system-generated code created at the time of 
initial contact) or other database fields, such as establishment number 
or type of complaint. A name can also be used to retrieve individual 
records; however, using the case code or other database fields reduces 
the need for retrieval by information that could identify an 
individual.

Safeguards:
    Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with 
applicable rules and policies, including all applicable USDA automated 
systems security and access policies. This includes protection behind 
firewalls, network protection against intrusion, and vulnerability 
scanning and protection. Only users with a business need are allowed 
access through the use of an encrypted password. Role-based access 
controls are used to restrict access to CCMS II, which is accessible 
via the FSIS Intranet. Furthermore, multiple levels of access exist, 
based on the user's system role and job function. Each time users sign 
in to the application, the login credentials are checked against 
authorized system user role memberships to ensure the user's access 
privileges are restricted to assigned level-of-access roles. User 
activity is also monitored, logged, and audited. Additionally, all 
users are required to undergo USDA-approved computer security awareness 
training prior to access and must complete computer security training 
yearly in order to retain access. An access agreement describes 
prohibited activities, such as browsing.

Retention and disposal:
    Records will be destroyed or maintained in accordance with the 
USDA's published records disposition schedules, as approved by NARA. A 
backup of the Master File is created at the end of the calendar year, 
and backup records are maintained in accordance with General Records 
Schedule Authority N1-462-07-01, Item 2. System inputs are maintained 
in accordance with General Records Schedule Authority GRS 20, Item 
2(a)(4), while system outputs (reports) are maintained in accordance 
with General Records Schedule Authority GRS 20, Item 16.

System manager and address:
    Dr. Karen Becker, Director, Applied Epidemiology Staff, Office of 
Public Health Science, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 355 E Street 
SW. PPIII, 9th Floor Office 9-232, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone 
(202) 690-6045.

Notification procedure:
    An individual may request information regarding this system of 
records, or information as to whether this system contains records 
pertaining to such individual from the System Manager listed above. 
Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record contained 
in this system of records, or seeking to contest its content, may 
submit a request in writing to the Headquarters or FSIS Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) Officer, whose contact information can be found 
at http://www.da.usda.gov/foia.htm under ``Contacts.'' If an individual 
believes more than one component maintains Privacy Act records 
concerning him or her, the individual may submit the request to the 
Chief FOIA Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence 
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250.

[[Page 53763]]

    When seeking records about yourself from this system of records or 
any other USDA system of records, your request must conform with the 
Privacy Act regulations set forth in 7 CFR part 1. You must first 
verify your identity, meaning that you must provide your full name, 
current address, and date and place of birth. You must sign your 
request, and your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 
28 U.S.C. 1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty 
of perjury as a substitute for notarization. While no specific form is 
required, you may obtain forms for this purpose from the Chief FOIA 
Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20250. In addition, you should provide the following:
     An explanation of why you believe USDA would have 
information on you,
     Which components of USDA you believe may have the 
information about you,
     When you believe the records would have been created,
     Any other information that will help the FOIA staff 
determine which USDA component agency may have responsive records,
     If your request is seeking records pertaining to another 
living individual, you must include a statement from that individual 
certifying his/her agreement for you to access his/her records.
    Without this bulleted information, the component(s) may not be able 
to conduct an effective search, and your request may be denied due to 
lack of specificity.

Records access procedures:
    See ``Notification Procedure'' above.

Contesting records procedures:
    See ``Notification Procedure'' above.

Record source categories:
    Information generally is obtained directly from the individual who 
is the subject of the records, or from someone acting on their behalf, 
such as Federal, State and Local health agencies, relatives, or a 
friend of the consumer.

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    None

United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) II

FSIS-2011-0030

New System of Records--Narrative Statement

    The mission of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is 
to protect public health by ensuring that meat, poultry, and 
processed egg products are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled. 
Natural events, accidents, or intentional acts can put the safety of 
food and the food supply chain at risk, and by doing so, put the 
health and welfare of consumers at risk. FSIS developed the Consumer 
Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS II) to help Agency personnel 
quickly and effectively identify potentially unsafe meat, poultry, 
or processed egg products. CCMS II is an electronic database 
accessed from FSIS' Intranet and is used to record, sort, evaluate, 
and track complaints about possible adverse effects from meat, 
poultry, or processed egg products regulated by FSIS. CCMS II is 
also used to track subsequent analysis and investigations of these 
complaints.
    Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601, et seq.), 
the Poultry Product Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451, et seq.), and the 
Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 1031, et seq.), Congress has 
provided for the inspection and regulated processing and 
distribution of meat and meat products, poultry, and egg products to 
prevent the sale and movement in commerce of articles that are 
adulterated or misbranded. Specifically, 21 U.S.C. 451, 602, and 
1031 note that the health and welfare of consumers are to be 
protected by assuring that meat and meat food products are wholesome 
and that regulation by the Secretary of Agriculture and cooperation 
by the States and other jurisdictions are appropriate to protect the 
health and welfare of consumers.
    Further, under 21 U.S.C. 679c(a)(1) and (3), the Secretary is 
authorized to give high priority to enhancing the ability of FSIS 
``. . . to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of meat and poultry 
products'' and to ``strengthen the ability of [FSIS] to collaborate 
with relevant agencies within the Department of Agriculture and with 
other entities in the Federal Government, the States, and Indian 
tribes . . . through the sharing of information and technology.'' 
CCMS II helps to identify products in commerce that are potentially 
adulterated and enables FSIS to determine whether reported products 
are safe and wholesome. In addition, the system allows the Agency to 
collaborate with federal, State, local, and tribal public health 
partners in identifying potentially unsafe meat or poultry 
products--and helps the Agency to protect the consuming public from 
further harm.
    A complaint can be initiated by calls from consumers or their 
representatives, by representatives of State or local health 
departments and Federal agencies, including USDA's Agricultural 
Marketing Service and Food and Nutrition Service, or via electronic 
hand-off from USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline system and through web 
forms submitted by consumers. The information from these complaints, 
collected in CCMS II, is analyzed, evaluated, and classified as 
needing further action by trained analysts in FSIS' Office of Public 
Health Science (OPHS). These and other analysts identify the 
organization that will perform any subsequent action, provide 
ongoing updates, coordinate communication with other USDA agencies 
as needed, and alert management in the event of a non-routine 
incident. OPHS will also determine and coordinate any needed 
laboratory analysis and provide technical and scientific support to 
other program areas. Until the complaint is resolved, any action 
taken is updated in CCMS II. CCMS II data can include certain 
information about individuals, such as first and last names, home or 
work address, telephone number or email, food product consumed, 
medical symptoms experienced, and medical care received. Some of 
this information can be and is used to retrieve records, such as 
first and last name, but by design and in general practice, a 
system-generated case code is used for retrieval. The case code is 
sequentially assigned at the time of the initial contact, and is 
provided to the submitter of the complaint. Other database fields, 
such as establishment number or type of complaint, can also be used 
for retrieval.
    The data within CCMS II is specifically used for the reasons the 
information was obtained: to help determine the safety of specific 
food products consumed by individuals who reported problems with the 
food items. Information from CCMS II may be shared in a controlled 
manner within FSIS and, as needed, with other public health 
partners, to determine whether there is a potential problem with the 
product, to help identify the origin of the product, to trace 
forward the product's distribution or disposition, to follow-up with 
the individual who reported the problem, to ascertain whether others 
experienced similar problems with the same product, or for other 
reasons that derive directly from the reason the information was 
originally collected. There are other routine uses of CCMS II data 
permitted under U.S.C. 552a(b)(3), as contained in the Federal 
Register Notice and summarized here:
    To the Department of Justice for litigation purposes; to 
National Archives and Records Administration for records management; 
to a Congressional Office in response to an inquiry from the 
relevant constituent; to an appropriate authority for audit 
purposes; to an appropriate authority in response to a threat to 
information security or confidentiality; to an appropriate law 
enforcement authority in response to investigations, prosecutions, 
or enforcement actions; to contractors and agents performing a 
function on behalf of the agency relating to the collection of 
information to support surveillance, investigations, and 
facilitation of rapid detection and response to food borne hazards; 
to appropriate authorities responsible for public health/monitoring 
illness outbreaks/ensuring safety of the food supply because the 
data supports public

[[Page 53764]]

health officials in their ability to identify public health hazards 
and mitigate their impact through communication and information 
sharing among public health partners; and to producing 
establishments in connection with the Agency's investigation of 
complaint-related information.
    CCMS II data and investigations also support other activities, 
including complaint-related verification of Hazard Analysis and 
Critical Control Points in producing establishments, analysis of 
school lunch product manufacturing specifications, and recall 
coordination for product(s) identified as adulterated or 
unwholesome.

Safeguards/Security Provided for This System

    FSIS has taken significant actions to safeguard the identifiable 
information about an individual in CCMS II and to control access to 
the system itself. Access to CCMS II is restricted to trained, 
authorized FSIS employees and to a limited number of users 
representing FSIS' public health partners in the Department of 
Health and Human Services. Authorized users are assigned level-of-
access roles based on their job functions. The level of access for 
the user restricts the data that may be seen and the degree to which 
data may be modified by the user. Firewalls and other security 
controls further prevent unauthorized access. As a result, the 
potential effect of CCMS II on an individual's privacy is minimal.
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 
U.S.C. 552a(b) of the Privacy Act, records maintained in the system 
may be disclosed outside USDA for eight routine uses. These routine 
uses may be described as functional and housekeeping uses.
    The records are protected by the confidentiality requirements of 
USDA's Office of the Chief Information Officer Cyber Security 
Manuals and the provisions of the Privacy Act. Only authorized USDA 
employees and contractors will have access to the records in this 
system, and this access will be on a need-to-know basis. Role-based 
access controls are used to restrict access to CCMS II, which is 
accessible via the FSIS Intranet.
    The system has been categorized as a Moderate impact system as 
identified in Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 199. 
The security controls implemented within the system will correspond 
with those published in the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology Special Publication 800-53, Recommended Security Controls 
for Federal Information Technology Systems (Revision1) for a 
Moderate impact system. Users are granted system access only upon 
successful completion of security training and must successfully 
complete security training each year to retain access. Each user is 
supplied with a unique and strong user-id and password. The user 
roles are restrictive and based on the principle of least privilege 
allowing for adequate performance of job functions and access to 
information based on a need to know.
    Where appropriate, the system also will adhere to the security 
controls identified in the Federal Information Security Control 
Audit Manual (FISCAM). The mandatory requirements of FIPS 199 and 
FIPS 200 support the Federal Information Security Management Act and 
FISCAM supports the mandated Office of Management and Budget 
Circular A-123, Management of Internal Controls.
    Moreover, system managers and users observe and adhere to 
specific USDA security requirements as set forth in the USDA Cyber 
Security Manuals, including but not limited to USDA Departmental 
Manual (DM) 3545-000, Personnel Security, and DM 3510-001, Physical 
Security Standards for Information Technology Restricted Space.

[FR Doc. 2015-22085 Filed 9-4-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P