To accomplish these tasks, the following strategies were established: to prepare the Integrated Prevention and Control Handbook for Diseases Transmitted by Food (Manual Integrado de Prevenção e Controle das DTA); to organize annual nationwide seminars on epidemiological surveillance practices for diseases transmitted by food; to organize staff capacity-building courses in epidemiological surveillance for diseases transmitted by food; to publicize the epidemiological surveillance practices for diseases transmitted by food at universities and nutrition colleges in Brazil; to encourage partnerships with consumer protection entities as a way of keeping the population informed about diseases transmitted by food; to introduce permanent mechanisms for advising travellers about diseases transmitted by food; to disclose preventive measures for dealing with diseases transmitted by food among specific sectors (industrial canteens, supermarkets, cooking programmes aired on television, school lunch preparation staff and others); implementation of the epidemiological surveillance project for diseases transmitted by food at all state Health Bureaux and Municipal Health Bureaux in state capitals; capacity-building at key laboratories for carrying out human etiological diagnoses for diseases transmitted by food and the bromatological analyses required to investigate diseases transmitted by food.