United States Food Safety Washington, D.C. Department of ‘and Inspection 20250 Agriculture Service Mr. William Holmes. Citizens for Responsibility APR 2 2010 and Ethies in Washington 1400 Eye Street, N.W. Suite 450 Washington, D.C. 20005 RE: FOIA-2008-00153 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Dear Mr. Holmes: This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated January 30, 2008. In responding to a FOIA request, the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) search will include responsive records in its control on the date the search began. Your request is granted in part at no cost to you, We located 175 pages that are responsive to your request. After a thorough review of these documents, we have determined that portions of them are exempt from disclosure under (b)(2), (b)(4), (b)(5), (bX(6), and (b)(7)(C) of the Freedom of Information Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § $52, as amended, We are releasing a total of 165 pages: 97 pages released in part, and 68 pages released in their entirety. In addition, we are withholding 10 pages in their entirety. Enclosed are the releasable portions of the responsive records. FOIA Exemption 2 (“High 2”) protects disclosure of records “related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.” This exemption permits an agency to withhold information that, if released, would risk circumvention of agency regulations, policies, and procedures. Under this exemption, we are withholding scheduled product sampling dates and phone conference line pass codes, FOIA Exemption 4 protects “trade seorets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential.” Disclosure of this information would impair the government's ability to obtain necessary information in the future and cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained. Under this exemption, we are withholding proprietary information pertaining to establishments’ processing capabilities as well as names of establishments to which sampling allocator for BSE samplings oceurred. FOIA Exemption 5 protects from disclosure inter-agency or intra-ageney memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency. Incorporated within Exemption 5 is the deliberative process privilege. This privilege is invoked: (1) to encourage open, frank discussions on matters of policy between subordinates and their superiors; (2) to protect against premature disclosure of proposed policies before they areMr. William Holmes Page 2 finally adopted; and, (3) to protect against public confusion that might result from disclosure of reasons and rationales that were not in faet ultimately the grounds for an agency's action. Under the deliberative process privilege we are withholding draft documents and internal communications between agency employees wherein policy and/or procedural issues and associated recommendations are discussed. Because these documents are deliberative and pre- decisional in nature, their release could inhibit candor and the open and frank discussions and expressions of opinion necessary for agency decision makers to make informed decisions in the administration of their duties. Exemptions 6 and 7(C) protects information that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Under Exemption 6, we have withheld the names of lower level Agency personnel and third parties. ‘This Exemption, along with the law enforcement Exemption 7(C), affords protection to Agency enforcement personnel. You may appeal this determination within 45 days from the date of this letter, Your appeal should include copies of your original request and this response, as well as a discussion of the reasons supporting your appeal. The envelope should be plainly marked to indicate that it contains a FOIA appeal. If you decide to appeal this determination, please send your appeal to: Alfred V. Almanza Administrator Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service 1400 Independence Avenue, SW. Room 1140 South Building Washington, D.C. 20250-3700 In addition, we located 2 pages of responsive records that had originated from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), a component within the Department of Agriculture. ‘We have referred those pages to APHIS for processing and direct response to you. If you have any questions concerning the two pages, you may contact them at the below address and phone number: Tonya Woods Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Staff 4700 River Road, Unit 50 Riverdale, MD 20737 Via telephone: 301-734-5267 Via facsimile: 301-734-5941 Your FOIA request, including your identity and the information made available, is releasable to the public under subsequent FOIA requests. In responding to these requests, FSIS does not release personal privacy information, such as home addresses, telephone numbers, or social security numbers, all of which are protected from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 6. 2Mr. William Holmes. Page 3 Thank you for your interest in FSIS programs and policies. Sincerely, a } Deplity Director Executive Correspondence and Issues Management Staff Enclosures 4 Clean + Separate + Cook ¢ Chill ti , Sa [4 Visit befoodsafe.gov, askkaren.gov, oF call 1-888-MPHotline,