Original Mac & Cheese Dinner
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0041303016305 · Essential Everyday. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Original Mac & Cheese Dinner by Essential Everyday scores 75/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 39 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 39-component record, beginning with Enriched Macaroni Product, Wheat Flour, Glycerol Monostearate. 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.
- 75/100
- Caution safety score
- 1
- One flagged · of 39 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- E
- 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
45/100
Grade D
Ingredient Safety
75/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
E
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.
03016305 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Original Mac & Cheese Dinner label screening desk
13 of 39 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Yellow 6). Source sheet 03016305 · 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: Marshmallows · Nearest score peer is Marshmallows 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 second band of the four-tier framework. That band collects labels whose registry-rated components pull the derived score down measurably without dominating it. Position inside a band is not visible from the band name, and two labels sharing it can differ in how many components were rated and how severely. This is a threshold on an index computed here from public data, not a regulatory classification of any kind; the exact cut-offs are published on the methodology page.
Nutri-Score assigned its lowest band to this label. The algorithm reserves that grade for nutrition panels where the values it penalises sit well above the components it credits. The two systems on this page measure genuinely different things: a product can hold this grade while carrying no additive flagged by the registries screened below, and a product graded well can carry several. Neither reading substitutes for the other, and the per-component table is where the additive picture is set out.
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
Original Mac & Cheese Dinner lists 39 ingredients on its label
39 93rd percentile a longer ingredient list than 93% 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 75/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (1 flagged of 39 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, GLYCEROL MONOSTEARATE, NIACIN, IRON [FERROUS SULFATE], THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (MALTODEXTRIN, SEMISOFT CHEESE [MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES]. WHEY, PALM OIL, SALT, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, NONFAT MILK, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CHEDDAR CHEESE [MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES], SODIUM CASEINATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, BUTTER, LACTIC ACID, COLOR [TURMERIC OLEORESIN, YELLOW 6 LAKE],NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAOVR, GUAR GUM, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, EMULSIFIER [MONOGLYCERIDES], SODIUM SILICOALUMINIATE), MALTODEXTRIN, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SALT, ACETIC ACID ESTERS OF MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, CALCIUM SILICATE.
Other products containing Acetic Acid Esters Of Mono And Diglycerides
Acetic Acid Esters Of Mono And Diglycerides is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 21 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
More from Essential Everyday
Mid-score cross-brand comparables for Original Mac & Cheese Dinner
Neighbours outside Essential Everyday near Original Mac & Cheese Dinner's mid-band score (75/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Essential Everyday; these peers cross brands.
Same mid-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (1 flagged of 39 on 0041303016305).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (39 on 0041303016305).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Yellow 6 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Original Mac & Cheese Dinner's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 39-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Yellow 6. Open Yellow 6
- Compare Original Mac & Cheese Dinner'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 0041303016305: 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.