USDA database to SQLite

Converts the USDA food database to SQLite.

The USDA has a database of nutritional information for many foods available at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964

By default it's contained in flat files. This project includes scripts to generate appropriate schema and import them into a SQLite database. I've also hand generated a subset of the nutrients that includes commonly-familiar nutrients vs. the very extensive list provided by the USDA.

Some example scripts to query the database are in the python and node folders. Sample usage:

$ python python/nutrients.py 01001
$ python python/common_nutrients.py 21060
$ python python/search.py salmon
$ node node/nutrient_csv.js > nutrient.csv

Useful queries

Get all nutrient data for Dairy and Egg Products

select count(*) from nutrition join food on food.id = nutrition.food_id where food.food_group_id = 100;

Pick a random food

select * from food order by random() limit 1;

Populating Database

A database is included in the repo for SR27.

To re-populate the database from scratch, you will need to first download the files and unzip them into the data directory. Files for SR27 are included.

Run create_db.sh with the name of output database:

$ ./create_db.sh usda.sql3

Attribution

Adapted from https://github.com/czarandy/usda for scripts to run on Mac OS X with SR27 release by Alyssa Quek.