Cheesy Shells
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0041220672820 · Hill Country Fare. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Cheesy Shells by Hill Country Fare scores 35/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 43 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 43-component record, beginning with Enriched Macaroni Product, Durum Flour, Niacin. 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.
- 35/100
- Avoid safety score
- 3
- Few flagged · of 43 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- 0041220672820
- Barcode (UPC/EAN)
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
27/100
Grade F
Ingredient Safety
35/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
N/A
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.
20672820 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Cheesy Shells label screening desk
13 of 43 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: TBHQ). Source sheet 20672820 · 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: Low calorie soda · Nearest score peer is Low calorie soda at the same screening score.
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
The composite for this product falls in the lowest of the four bands. That is where labels land when registry-rated components drive the greater part of the deduction from the index. The band name is drawn from the framework's own scale and is distinct from the ratings the registries themselves assign to individual substances, which are shown per component below. A single heavily rated component and several lightly rated ones can produce the same band, so the component table is the more precise reading of the two.
No Nutri-Score grade is present for this record in the OpenFoodFacts snapshot this page is built from. The nutritional dimension is absent rather than assessed and withheld: the grade depends on a complete declared nutrition panel, and community-contributed records vary in how much of that panel they carry. Nothing about the missing grade implies anything either way about the panel itself. The screen below covers additive ratings only and does not depend on the nutrition figures.
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
Ingredient-list length vs every product we publish
Cheesy Shells lists 43 ingredients on its label
43 95th percentile a longer ingredient list than 95% of the 359,392 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
- 6,050 products (2%)
- 2–4
- 24,522 products (7%)
- 4–6
- 31,054 products (9%)
- 6–8
- 30,981 products (9%)
- 8–10
- 31,618 products (9%)
- 10–12
- 29,943 products (8%)
- 12–14
- 28,403 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 27,417 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 24,508 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 19,062 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 14,679 products (4%)
- 22–24
- 12,238 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 10,830 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 9,344 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 7,955 products (2%)
- 30–32
- 6,753 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 5,918 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 5,282 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 4,531 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 4,063 products (1%)
- 40 and above
- 24,241 products (7%)
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. No category with enough published products was available for this record, so the comparison runs against the whole published catalogue.
Ingredient Safety Analysis
How the 35/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (3 flagged of 43 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (DURUM FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON [FERROUS SULFATE], THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBIFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WHEY, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, ENZYMES MODIFIED CHEDDAR CHEESE AND BUTTER (CHEDDAR CHEESE [MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES], BUTTER [CREAM, SALT, COLOR (ANNATTO EXTRACT)] CHEESE CULTURE, ENZYMES), CORN STARCH, SALT, PALM OIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: BUTTERMILK, BLUE CHEESE (CULTURED MILK, SLAT, ENZYMES), MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SUGAR, LACTIC ACID, CODIUM PHAOSPHATE, SODIUM CASEINATE, REDUCED-LACTOSE WHEY, COLOR (YELLOW 5, YELLOW 5 LAKE, YELLOW6), CITRIC ACID, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, EMULSIFIER (MONOGLYCERIDES), GUAR GUM, PRESERVATIVES (TBHQ), SODIUM SILICOALUMINATE.
More from Hill Country Fare
Lower-score cross-brand comparables for Cheesy Shells
Neighbours outside Hill Country Fare in the same lower screening band as Cheesy Shells (35/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hill Country Fare; these peers cross brands.
Nearest screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (3 flagged of 43 on 0041220672820).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (43 on 0041220672820).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
TBHQ is the first flagged ingredient selected from Cheesy Shells's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 43-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to TBHQ. Open TBHQ
- Compare Cheesy Shells's 3 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 0041220672820: 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.