Mac n Cheese
by Annie’s
Scores 100/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with no flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Mac n Cheese by Annie’s scores 100/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 10 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 0 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 10-component label led by Organic Pasta, Cheddar Cheese, Whey; compare those leading ingredients with the product's processing and nutrition fields before deciding whether it fits your goal. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 100/100
- Safe safety score
- 0
- flagged ingredients of 10 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- D
- Nutri-Score nutrition grade
Computed directly from OpenFoodFacts ingredient data cross-referenced with FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings. See our methodology for the scoring formula.
62139262 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Mac n Cheese label screening desk
Mac n Cheese screens 100/100 with 0 flagged of 10 parsed ingredients. 3 of 10 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Silicon Dioxide). Derived index from public OFF + FDA SAFFA + CSPI data — not an official FDA rating; see methodology. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Super! Mac Variety Pack (0 pts).
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
Within the four-tier shelf-label framework this site publishes, the composite for this product falls in the highest band. That band is defined by a threshold on the derived score alone: it is where labels land once components carrying caution-or-worse registry ratings contribute little or nothing to the deduction. The band is a summary of what the screened registries return for the components that were parsed, so it inherits their coverage gaps — a component absent from both registries neither raises nor lowers the figure. The threshold and the weighting behind it are set out on the methodology page.
This label falls in the fourth Nutri-Score band. The model arrives there when its penalty terms — energy density, sugars, saturated fat, sodium — carry more weight in the calculation than the fibre, protein and produce content it credits. The band covers a wide span of the points scale, so position within it is not visible from the letter alone. The grade reflects the declared nutrition panel and is unrelated to the additive ratings listed below, which come from different bodies applying different criteria.
The declared list parsed into a small number of components. On a short list the registry screen covers close to everything the packaging declares, and any single matched component accounts for a correspondingly large share of the composite. Short lists also leave less room for parsing error, since there are fewer separators and qualifiers for the extraction to resolve.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 15,626 products we've scored in the Meals category, the average safety score is 93.6/100. Mac n Cheese scores 6.4 points above that category average (100/100 vs. 93.6/100), so it is a comparatively strong pick for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Meals products
Mac n Cheese lists 10 ingredients on its label
10 7th percentile a longer ingredient list than 7% of the 11,283 products we track
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more products. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Distribution as text
- 0–2
- 12 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 83 products (1%)
- 4–6
- 127 products (1%)
- 6–8
- 208 products (2%)
- 8–10
- 311 products (3%)
- 10–12
- 316 products (3%)
- 12–14
- 409 products (4%)
- 14–16
- 479 products (4%)
- 16–18
- 538 products (5%)
- 18–20
- 549 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 549 products (5%)
- 22–24
- 551 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 554 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 550 products (5%)
- 28–30
- 572 products (5%)
- 30–32
- 516 products (5%)
- 32–34
- 466 products (4%)
- 34–36
- 456 products (4%)
- 36–38
- 440 products (4%)
- 38–40
- 389 products (3%)
- 40 and above
- 3,208 products (28%)
Source Open Food Facts, product label ingredient lists · July 2026
Ingredient-list length is a descriptive property of the label, not a safety rating. A longer list is not automatically worse and a shorter one is not automatically better; the count is shown so the label can be placed against a comparable population. The comparison here runs against the 11,283 Meals products we publish with a parsed label, not against the whole catalogue, because list length varies far more between categories than within one.
Ingredient Safety Analysis
Full Ingredient List
Organic pasta, dried cheddar cheese, whey, nonfat milk, butter, salt, cultured whole milk, sodium phosphate, annatto extract, silicon dioxide.
Other products containing Cultured Whole Milk
Cultured Whole Milk is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 124 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
Data Sources
Data as of July 2026. Source: OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine.
Product data from OpenFoodFacts (ODbL). Ingredient safety ratings from FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine. See our methodology for details.
This information is for reference only and does not constitute dietary or medical advice.
More from Annie’s
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Mac n Cheese, both outside the Annie’s brand so the neighborhoods are not catalog containment (the More-from block above stays brand-local).
Similar safety score
Nearest cross-brand products by ingredient screening score (100/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (10 here).
Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Product figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026.
