Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy
by Hormel
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0037600469784 · Hormel · Meals. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy by Hormel scores 95/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 40 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 1 ingredient is flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 40-component record, beginning with Macaroni, Water, Enriched Durum Semolina. That density can include amounts and label fragments, so verify the physical label before relying on ingredient order or completeness. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 95/100
- Safe safety score
- 1
- One flagged · of 40 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- C
- 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.
Composite profile score
One verdict from three independent sources
65/100
Grade B-
Ingredient Safety
95/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
C
Nutri-Score front-of-pack nutrition grade
Weighted 50% ingredient safety / 25% processing level / 25% nutrition grade. A dimension with no data for this product (common: source coverage is partial) is dropped and its weight redistributes across the remaining dimensions, so missing data never silently lowers the score. See the full benchmark table.
00469784 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy label screening desk
11 of 40 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Caramel Coloring). Source sheet 00469784 · Open Food Facts · July 2026. The screening score and flag counts are in the verdict band above. This desk is the provenance stamp, not a second scorecard. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Cheesy Potatoes & Beef · Nearest score peer is Cheesy Potatoes & Beef at the same screening score.
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.
Nutri-Score settled on its middle grade here, the band the algorithm produces when the penalty and credit sides of its nutrient ledger come out close to balanced. A mid-scale grade is a statement about the panel as a whole rather than about any single nutrient, and products arrive at it by very different routes: a moderate profile across every term, or high marks on some offset by heavy penalties on others. The grade is computed separately from the ingredient screen below and the two are not comparable measures.
The declared list is among the longer ones in this catalogue. A component set this wide means the screen returns many individual ratings, and the composite accumulates a large number of small contributions instead of turning on a handful of entries. At this length the per-component table below is substantially more informative than the single figure, because the figure compresses a great deal of variation into one number.
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. Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy scores 1.4 points above that category average (95/100 vs. 93.6/100), so it is roughly typical for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Meals products
Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy lists 40 ingredients on its label
40 72nd percentile a longer ingredient list than 72% 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
- 209 products (2%)
- 8–10
- 312 products (3%)
- 10–12
- 315 products (3%)
- 12–14
- 412 products (4%)
- 14–16
- 477 products (4%)
- 16–18
- 542 products (5%)
- 18–20
- 552 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 545 products (5%)
- 22–24
- 550 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 552 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 552 products (5%)
- 28–30
- 574 products (5%)
- 30–32
- 517 products (5%)
- 32–34
- 466 products (4%)
- 34–36
- 451 products (4%)
- 36–38
- 443 products (4%)
- 38–40
- 388 products (3%)
- 40 and above
- 3,204 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
How the 95/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (1 flagged of 40 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Macaroni (water, enriched durum semolina [wheat, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], vital wheat gluten, egg whites, glycerol monostearate), tomatoes (water, tomato paste), water, beef, pasteurized process american cheese (american cheese [milk, salt, cheese cultures, enzymes], water, sodium phosphate, cream, salt, lactic acid), modified cornstarch, contains 2% or less of sugar, parmesan cheese (parmesan cheese [pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes], powdered cellulose to prevent caking, sorbic acid to protect flavor), salt, textured vegetable protein (soy flour, caramel color), flavoring, white vinegar, yeast extract, dextrose, citric acid, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, erythorbic acid.
Other products containing Sorbic Acid To Protect Flavor
Sorbic Acid To Protect Flavor is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 17 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Hormel
High-score cross-brand comparables for Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy
Neighbours outside Hormel with screening scores in the same high band as Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy (95/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hormel; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (1 flagged of 40 on 0037600469784).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (40 on 0037600469784).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Caramel Coloring is the first flagged ingredient selected from Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 40-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Caramel Coloring. Open Caramel Coloring
- Compare Hormel, compleats, mac & cheese, beefy's 1 flagged ingredients with a product from the same score neighbourhood. Compare labels
- Check how caution flags contribute to the derived screening score before drawing a dietary conclusion. Read the method
This page describes published ingredient-list and source coverage. It is not dietary or medical advice.
Barcode 0037600469784: product data from Open Food Facts (July 2026). Screening from FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine where attached. Figures are computed from those sources, not editor-typed. Methodology. Reference only, not dietary or medical advice.