In response to the issues raised in this scenario, the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Animal Care (USDA, APHIS, AC) offers the following clarification and guidance:

Inspectors may ask for, review and rely upon records and documents for which there is no maintenance requirement under the Act or regulations, to prove or disprove a potential noncompliant item. Taking photographs and obtaining photocopies of records are not uncommon components of an inspection. The photographs and photocopies are used to document facility conditions, to support an inspection report citation or to provide clarification for the registrant, if he or she was not present at the time the noncompliant item was observed.

Once the photocopies or photographs have been obtained, they become 'agency records' and are subject to requests for release under FOIA. If USDA receives such a request, the documents are examined for protected information (see http://www.aphis.usda.gov/footer_items/foia.shtml). The registrant may be notified of the pending request if the agency determines the responsive records contain commercial business information, and consequently given an opportunity to justify protection under FOIA. All information deemed by the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-FOIA office to be protected is redacted (blacked out) prior to public release, whether the document is a paper record or part of a photograph.

USDA Animal Care Inspection Reports have been determined to be frequently requested records under the Electronic FOIA amendments of 1996 and must be made available to the public on the internet. This ruling does not extend to any auxiliary inspection documents; these must be requested on an individual basis.

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