The United States is the world's major provider of international food aid to low-income developing countries. This report provides three indicators of the U.S. contribution to global food aid: (1) shipments of major donors compiled by the International Grains Council (IGC), (2) U.S. contributions to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and (3) the U.S. commitment under the 1999 Food Aid Convention (FAC). Data from the International Grains Council show that U.S. food aid accounted for 58% of food aid shipments by major donors during 1995/96-2008/09. A substantial portion of U.S.

Military food items, also known as subsistence items, are generally procured under the auspices of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD) which provides worldwide logistics support for the U.S. military services. Under DLA, the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) is the inventory control point for food, clothing, textiles, medicines, medical equipment, general and industrial supplies and services for the military, their eligible dependents, and other non-DOD customers worldwide.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Res. 1874 on June 12, 2009, in response to North Koreas second nuclear test. The resolution puts in place a series of sanctions on North Koreas arms sales, luxury goods, and financial transactions related to its weapons programs, and calls upon states to inspect North Korean vessels suspected of carrying such shipments. The resolution does allow for shipments of food and nonmilitary goods. As was the case with an earlier U.N. resolution, 1718, that was passed in October 2006 after North Koreas first nuclear test, Res.

In March 2009, a number of cases of an influenza-like illness and severe respiratory infections in humans were reported in parts of Mexico. These cases were later confirmed to be a strain of influenza A(H1N1), commonly referred to as swine flu and later called 2009 H1N1. By the end of April 2009, confirmed human cases of 2009 H1N1 infection were reported throughout Mexico, in parts of the United States, and in several countries worldwide. Reports of the outbreakcoupled with the use of the initial moniker swine fluinitially caused a downturn in domestic and international pork markets.

In December 2003 a Holstein dairy cow in Washington State tested positive for BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease), the first case discovered in the United States and the second native case in North America. (Canada confirmed a third and then a fourth case in early January 2005.) The U.S. BSE cow and the first two Canadian cows were born in Canada, before both countries banned, in 1997, the practice of feeding most ruminant material back to ruminants, including cattle. The latest Canadian case was in a cow born in March 1998.