The database consists of three dBASE IV form files.  One is a header
file "header.dbf" containing the following:
1) Food Title
2) The food number.  This a reference number assigned to each food.
3) The amount of refuse.  This is the percentage discarded by weight.
4) One standard serving size
5) The weight of that serving size in grams
6) Another standard serving size
7) The weight of that serving size in grams

	The second file contains all the nutrient data "usda2.dbf".
  Each record contains:
1) The food number
2) The nutrient number.
3) The average amount of the given nutrient found in 100 grams of the
edible portion.
4) The standard deviation of the mean for the same sample.  In some
cases, this will be a strange number, such as -1, -4, or -5.  Obviously,
this is not an actual standard deviation.  -1 can be interpreted "The
standard deviation could not be calculated."  This is for reasons such as
the size of the sample being 1.  -4 Can be interpreted to mean "The value
in the `mean' column is imputed to replace a blank space in the handbook."  I
have no idea what the practical implications of this are.  -5 can be
interprated as "the value in the `mean' column is based upon label claim
information."
5) Number of observations

	The third file contains the reference information for the nutrients.
  "nutr_tbl.dbf"  Its fields are:
1) The nutrient number
2) The name of the nutrient
3) The units in which the nutrient is measured

	The header file can be linked by the food numbers to the nutrient
information, which can in turn be linked to the nutrient table by the nutrient
numbers, using a database application to create one large database which can
be searched by food title for all the nutrient information on a given food.
I personally used Lotus Approach when creating this database, so I know it works.
Microsoft Access will also work, FoxPro should work, and there are others out
there as well.  Also it is possbile to use this information in its current
format by creating an interface with Visual Basic.  If there is some demand
for that, I may create one and make it available.  The information can also be
exported from a database program to a simple text format or to the format of any
of several popular spreadsheet programs for use in that environment.
	Because the words in a food title may be in some unexpected order,
the recommended method for searching food titles is to use `and' searches:
for example, when looking for chocolate chip cookies, search for a food
title which includes cookies and chocolate and chip, rather than simply
searching for "chocolate chip cookies".