USDA Foundation Foods reference
Sodium Food Explorer
Search USDA Foundation Foods and compare sodium on a consistent milligrams-per-100-gram basis. This makes unlike serving sizes easier to compare without inventing household portions.
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What the numbers mean
The explorer uses sodium milligrams per 100 grams because Foundation Foods nutrient values use a standardized mass basis. A 100-gram comparison is useful for comparing composition, but it is not automatically the portion you eat.
Why a specific package may differ
Foundation Foods focuses on commodity and minimally processed foods. Brand formulations, added salt, draining, rinsing, cooking and preparation can change sodium. For a packaged product you actually buy, use its current Nutrition Facts label for portion calculations.
Use the data in context
Once you find foods you want to compare, use the Food Swap Explorer for same-category alternatives, or enter actual label values in the Nutrition Label Sodium Calculator.
Data source
This explorer uses the April 2026 Foundation Foods release from USDA FoodData Central. The local dataset contains 333 records across 19 USDA categories. Each displayed food links to its FoodData Central record so you can inspect the source description and nutrient data.