Mac & cheese
Scores 0/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 4 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Mac & cheese by New World Pasta Company scores 0/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 34 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 4 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 34-component record, beginning with Enriched Macaroni Product, Semolina, Wheat. 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.
- 0/100
- Avoid safety score
- 4
- flagged ingredients of 34 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.
What the Data Says About Mac & cheese
Mac & cheese by New World Pasta Company carries a composite safety score of 0/100, which we classify as "Avoid" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 34 ingredients parsed from this label, 14 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Calcium Caseinate, Sodium Caseinate, Ferrous Sulfate and 11 others), with 13 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 7 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 20 ingredients appear in neither registry, so they neither raise nor lower the score. Each additive rated caution-or-worse penalizes the composite. Product data originates from the OpenFoodFacts collaborative catalog; safety annotations come from federal regulators and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This score is a transparent derived index we compute from that public data, not an official FDA rating or endorsement; see the Methodology page for the exact weighting.
Our scan identified 4 flagged ingredients in this product, components that at least one official source has classified as requiring caution, targeted avoidance, or further evaluation. Flagged ingredients are the items most likely to surface in FDA inspection findings, state-level ingredient bans, or outbreak-related recall notices, so the per-ingredient breakdown below is the most useful lens for anyone screening this product for a specific dietary concern.
On the NOVA processing scale, Mac & cheese is classified as Group 4 (Ultra-processed). NOVA measures industrial processing intensity rather than ingredient-level safety, so it complements the SAFFA and CSPI ratings: a product can be clean on additive flags but heavily processed, or lightly processed but carry individually flagged ingredients. Combining both lenses gives a fuller picture than either alone.
How the three scores on this page were derived
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.
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.
This label parsed into a long component list. Where many entries are screened at once, the composite tends to reflect the overall mix of registry ratings returned rather than the rating of any one entry. Longer declarations also carry more sub-listed and compound entries, where a parenthetical group is resolved into its parts, so the parsed count can exceed what a reader counts on the packaging.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 0/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 4 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | D | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
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 & cheese scores 93.6 points below that category average (0/100 vs. 93.6/100), so it is a comparatively weaker 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 & cheese lists 34 ingredients on its label
34 60th percentile a longer ingredient list than 60% 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
Enriched macaroni product [semolina (wheat) niacin, iron (ferrous sulfate), thiamin mononitrate (vitamin b1), riboflavin (vitamin b2), folic acid), cheese sauce (whey, cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes], salt, butter, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, sodium phosphate, nonfat dry milk, lactic acid, hydrolized wheat and corn protein, colors (yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, yellow 5, yellow 6) natural flavors, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, yeast extract).
Other products containing Cheese Sauce
Cheese Sauce is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 451 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.
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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.
