MAC & CHEESE Original
by Panera Bread
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0077958694490 · Panera Bread · Meals. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
MAC & CHEESE Original by Panera Bread 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 Cooked Enriched Rigate Pasta, Water, 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
- 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.
Composite profile score
One verdict from three independent sources
60/100
Grade C+
Ingredient Safety
95/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
D
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.
58694490 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
MAC & CHEESE Original label screening desk
13 of 40 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Carrageenan). Source sheet 58694490 · 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: Mac & Cheese · Nearest score peer is Mac & Cheese 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.
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.
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. MAC & CHEESE Original 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
MAC & CHEESE Original 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
Cooked enriched rigate pasta (water, semolina, egg whites, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), american cheese spread (cheddar and colby cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], water, whey, sodium phosphate, whey protein concentrate, skim milk, milkfat, salt, carrageenan, cellulose gum), light cream, cheese sauce (cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], water, milkfat, whey, enzyme modified cheese [pasteurized milk, water, sodium phosphate, milkfat, salt, cheese culture, enzymes], sodium phosphate, modified food starch, salt, lactic acid, sodium alginate, sorbic acid [preservative]), white cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), contains 2% or less of: butter (cream, salt), water, modified food starch, wheat flour, salt, seasoning (yeast extract, maltodextrin, salt) and nisin preparation.
Categories
More from Panera Bread
High-score cross-brand comparables for MAC & CHEESE Original
Neighbours outside Panera Bread with screening scores in the same high band as MAC & CHEESE Original (95/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Panera Bread; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (1 flagged of 40 on 0077958694490).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (40 on 0077958694490).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Carrageenan is the first flagged ingredient selected from MAC & CHEESE Original'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 Carrageenan. Open Carrageenan
- Compare MAC & CHEESE Original'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 0077958694490: 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.