This article discusses the establishment of inter-sector action between health and food and nutritional security in Brazil from 2003 to 2010, when this issue was launched as a priority on the government's agenda. A qualitative study was developed according to constructivist epistemology, using key-informant interviews in the field's nationwide social oversight body. Advances and challenges in this process are addressed as analytical categories. The National Food and Nutrition Policy (PNAN) was mentioned as the link between the two fields, decentralized through a network with activity in the states and municipalities. However, the study found political, institutional, and operational obstacles to the effective implementation of the PNAN in the Brazilian Unified National Health System and consequently to a contribution to the advancement of Health and Food and Nutritional Security in the country. The predominance of the biomedical, curative, and high-complexity model was cited as the principal impediment, while health promotion policies like the PNAN were assigned secondary priority.
Food and Nutrition Security; Public Policies; Public Health Nutrition; Feeding