Home » Articles » Foodborne Infections and the Global Food Supply: Improving Health at Home and Abroad

Foodborne Infections and the Global Food Supply: Improving Health at Home and Abroad

PDF · Robert V. Tauxe · Aug-9-2012 · 40 VAND. J. TRANSNAT'L L. 899 (2007)

In recent years, fourteen percent of the U.S. food supply has been imported from other countries, including many fresh and perishable foods.  Although most outbreaks of illness and individual cases are related to foods from the United States, large and unusual outbreaks have been traced to imported foods that were likely contaminated in the country of origin.   Investigation of these outbreaks requires collaboration across several disciplines as well as across international borders.  Successful investigation can not only control the original problem, but can also inform public authorities in both countries about the need for strategies to prevent similar outbreaks from happening in the future.  Production of perishable foods in the developing world brings particular challenges because of the deficiencies in basic sanitation and hygiene and other elements of public health that Americans take for granted.  The public health infrastructure in such countries is critical to identifying and controlling foodborne and waterborne challenges before they affect exported foods, and strengthening such infrastructure is an important part of general development efforts.  Strategies to improve the health of the workers and rural populations in those countries and to increase the capacity of public health and food safety systems are likely to have long-term benefits to health in those countries, as well as preventing infections in the countries to which they export.




Leave a Reply

Announcements

The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law hosted a symposium called “The Role of Non-State Actors in International Law” at Vanderbilt University Law School in February 2013.  The October issue of the Journal will showcase articles by distinguished symposium guests including:

Mr. Ian Smillie, “Blood Diamonds and Non-State Actors”

Professor Jean d’Aspremont, “Cognitive Conflicts and the Making of International Law from Empirical Concord to Conceptual Discord in Legal Scholarship”

Professor Peter J. Spiro, “Constraining Global Corporate Power: A Very Short Introduction”

Professor Suzanne Katzenstein

Professor Peter Margulies

Professor Harlan G. Cohen

We are pleased to announce our annual award recipients for 2012-2013.

Masamichi Yamamoto Second-Year Editor Award: Kennedy Meier
Outstanding Third Year Editor Award: Alex Rinn

Grace Wilson Sims Medal in Transnational Law: Molly Chen

Grace Wilson Sims Prize for Student Writing in Transnational Law: Margaret Artz

Note Selections for 2013-14

The Publication Committee is pleased to announce the 2L student Notes selected for publication in the 2013-14 issues.   Please follow this link:  Note Selections for 2013

A special congratulations to Stella Forcehimes, who successfully “Noted-on” to the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Please congratulate her if you see her around school.

The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is now ranked the 9th best international law journal according to the Washington & Lee School of Law Library Law Journal Rankings.  For more information, please visit:  Washington & Lee Journal Rankings

The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is excited to announce the 2013-2014 Board of Editors. We had an exceptional pool of candidates to choose from and were very impressed by the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness this class displayed throughout the selection process. Please join us in congratulating them!

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals cites Head of State Immunity As Sole Executive Lawmaking by Lewis Yelin, written for the 2011 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law Symposium: Foreign State Immunity at Home and Abroad.  Yousuf v Samantar Opinion (4th Circuit)

Vanderbilt University law professor Ingrid Wuerth has been selected as a reporter for the Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, published by the American Law Institute. She will work on the immunities chapters, along with David Stewart, a visiting professor of law at Georgetown Law and former State Department official.

View the most recent Jonathan I. Charney Distinguished Lecture in Public International Law, presented by Fatou B. Bensouda.

Explore Other Vanderbilt Law Resources