USDA comparison tool
Lower-Sodium Food Swap Explorer
Choose a USDA Foundation Food and see lower-sodium records from the same food category. Comparisons use sodium per 100 grams so the denominator stays consistent.
How the alternatives are chosen
The tool looks only within the selected food's USDA category, keeps records with a lower sodium value per 100 grams, and sorts the closest lower values first. It does not decide that one food is nutritionally better overall.
Why preparation details matter
Foods that sound similar may differ because one is raw, cooked, canned, drained, rinsed, salted or otherwise prepared differently. Read the full USDA food description before treating two records as interchangeable.
For packaged foods
Use the current Nutrition Facts label when comparing specific products. The Compare Sodium tool is better when you already have two package values and the quantities you plan to eat.
Data source
The comparisons use the April 2026 Foundation Foods release from USDA FoodData Central. The shared local dataset contains 333 food records across 19 categories, and every displayed alternative links to its FoodData Central record for verification.