[Food and nutritional surveillance in Brazil: background, objectives and approaches]

The authors describe the concepts, objectives, components and strategic actions that are most frequently recommended for the development of systems of food and nutritional surveillance. The study outlines the importance of a continuous process of data collection, processing and analysis for the follow-up of food and nutritional trends. The System for Food and Nutritional Surveillance could be a valuable instrument for the planning, implementation and analysis of programs and policies of many international agencies of health and nutrition for the year 2000 (UNICEF/FAO/WHO). The study analyzes the evolution and current situation of the food and nutritional surveillance systems in Brazil, and a relationship is drawn between its main problems (coverage, indicators, usage and analytical capacity) for the consolidation of the process.