The Potential Consequences of Public Release of Food Safety and Inspection Service Establishment-Specific Data (2011) / Chapter Skim
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3 Experience with Public Posting of Government Data
3 Experience with Public Posting of Government Data
Pages 35-52
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From page 35... ...
We focus on the posting of data that stem directly from regulatory activities (Category 1) but also briefly discuss the public posting of information derived from some prior analysis of data 35
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From page 36... ...
Box 3-1 Examples of Sharing of Safety-Related Data on the Internet Airborne Contaminants. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration posts some of its compliance-monitoring information on airborne contaminants released from personal, area, and bulk samples in industrial sites.
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. In contrast, the Mine Safety and Health Administration posts inspection data even when a mine operator or other party is appealing parts of a decision, such as penalties.
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, 25 a Web-based platform that provides easy access to EPA and state data on environmental compliance and performance of over 800,000 individual facilities in the United States. The Web interface draws on an underlying dataset, the Integrated Data for Enforcement Analysis (IDEA)
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From page 39... ...
Although FDA has posted summary data for many years, it announced in May 2011 that it would disclose additional inspection information on FDA-regulated food products, including the compliance status of specific firms as determined by FDA inspectors during inspections and followup reviews for compliance. FDA made that information available to the public through a searchable database on the its Web site, which includes the names and addresses of inspected facilities, the dates of inspection, the types of FDA-regulated products involved, final inspection classification, and a summary of the most common inspection observations, although not in great detail.
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checked 895 food establishments across the United States and found that restaurants and retail store delicatessens were in compliance with the five risk factors emphasized in the 1997 FDA Food Code only 60–74% of the time. In comparison, the average compliance record for other food establishments (hospitals, nursing homes, elementary schools, and other departments of retail food stores)
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From page 41... ...
, restaurants are required to keep copies of the most recent inspection reports and provide them on request by consumers. Alternatively, disaggregated inspection outcomes can be posted on an on-line searchable database; access to these data requires consumers to initiate an on-line search.
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CDC releases annual summaries of FoodNet data in a published report but does not make the raw data publicly available, although they can be requested through FOIA. Agricultural Marketing Service The Monitoring Programs Office of USDA's AMS is responsible for managing the Pesticide Data Program (PDP)
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From page 43... ...
The academic literature also has examined the pros and cons of information disclosure in many contexts, including disclosure of establishment-specific regulatory information similar to the FSIS data and disclosure of productspecific information that may be traced back to manufacturers. The committee reviewed the many National Research Council and Institute of Medicine reports on data-sharing (for example, NRC, 1985; NRC and the Social Science Research Council, 1993; IOM, 1996; NRC, 2000; 2001, 2005; NAS, 2009; IOM and NRC, 2010)
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However, as with all regulatory interventions, some parties may be adversely affected by public data disclosure. Different parties have different perspectives on what constitutes an adverse effect.
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Although the committee is not aware of any published study that documents the effect of data disclosure on inspector behavior, public attention after data disclosure may highlight the existence of inspector heterogeneity and motivate the provision of additional training and standardization to enhance inspection consistency. Ironically, distorted firm and inspector behavior that occurs as a consequence of information disclosure suggests that the disclosed data are useful at least in the perception of primary data users.
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That TV exposé 37 increased consumer awareness of restaurant hygiene, drew attention to the weakness of the existing system, and intensified political pressure for regulatory change. Another factor that potentially contributed to the success of Los Angeles grade cards is that the stringent inspection codes matched specific violations to defined numerical point deductions, which minimized the subjectivity of hygiene inspections.
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The possible costs of public disclosure of information include adverse effects on profitability, but it is precisely this possibility that creates an incentive for facilities to improve their performance. The literature has also raised concerns about some perhaps unintended consequences, including the potential for data misinterpretation, the incentive for establishments whose data are disclosed to "game the system", 39 and potential pressure on inspector performance.
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2009. Certified kitchen managers: Do they improve restaurant inspection outcomes?
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2004. FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Selected Institutional Foodservice, Restaurant, and Retail Food Store Facility Types (2004)
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1995. Pollution as news: Media and stock market reactions to the toxics release inventory data.
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2004. Data Mining Mining Data: MSHA Enforcement Efforts, Underground Coal Mine Safety, and New Health Policy Implications.
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2005. Impact of restaurant hygiene grade cards on foodborne disease hospitalizations in Los Angeles County.
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