Mac & Cheese
by Panera
Scores 95/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 1 flagged ingredient identified.
The verdict
Mac & Cheese by Panera scores 95/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 32 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 32-component record, beginning with Cooked Enriched Pasta, Water, Semolina Wheat Flour. 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
- flagged ingredient of 32 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- 0077958593496
- 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.
What the Data Says About Mac & Cheese
Mac & Cheese by Panera carries a composite safety score of 95/100, which we classify as "Safe" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 32 ingredients parsed from this label, 13 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Nisin Preparation, Starch, Whey Protein Concentrate and 10 others), with 11 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 4 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 19 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 1 flagged ingredient 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
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.
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.
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 | 95/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 1 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | Not available | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
Ingredient-list length vs every product we publish
Mac & Cheese lists 32 ingredients on its label
32 88th percentile a longer ingredient list than 88% 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
- 6,017 products (2%)
- 2–4
- 24,515 products (7%)
- 4–6
- 30,975 products (9%)
- 6–8
- 30,947 products (9%)
- 8–10
- 31,570 products (9%)
- 10–12
- 29,866 products (8%)
- 12–14
- 28,397 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 27,399 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 24,531 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 19,104 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 14,716 products (4%)
- 22–24
- 12,256 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 10,853 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 9,356 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 7,948 products (2%)
- 30–32
- 6,771 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 5,945 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 5,283 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 4,549 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 4,084 products (1%)
- 40 and above
- 24,310 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
Full Ingredient List
cooked enriched pasta, water, semolina wheat flour, egg whites, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, white cheddar cheese, pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, milk, water, heavy cream, canola oil, starch, wheat flour, whey, whey protein concentrate, milkfat, skim milk, dried cream, nonfat dry milk, sodium alginate, enzymes, modified corn starch, lactic acid, carrageenan, xanthan gum, sodium citrate, nisin preparation, salt
Other products containing Cooked Enriched Pasta
Cooked Enriched Pasta is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 152 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
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.
Related
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.
