What are Canadians eating? A call to action for national surveillance and monitoring of dietary intakes in Canada.

A diet of low quality has profound repercussions on health and healthcare costs. Canada has implemented several policies to shift population dietary intakes. Yet, monitoring - an essential component of policy implementation - has been undervalued in Canada's nutrition and health policy, with only two comprehensive national nutrition-focused surveys in the last 50 years. This commentary calls on the Canadian government to implement continuous nationally representative dietary intake monitoring. We demonstrate the importance of dietary intake surveillance for informing evidence-informed nutrition policy. Investments in nationally representative dietary intake monitoring are essential for impactful policies that lead to a healthier Canada.