Macaroni & cheese
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0078742248660 · Wal-Mart Stores · Meals. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Macaroni & cheese by Wal-Mart Stores scores 85/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 26 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 1 ingredient is flagged for caution. The 26-component label is layered, beginning with Organic Pasta, White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour. Start with any flagged rows, then check the nutrition grade and serving size instead of treating one roll-up score as the whole decision. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 85/100
- Caution safety score
- 1
- One flagged · of 26 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- C
- 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
85/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
C
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.
42248660 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Macaroni & cheese label screening desk
6 of 26 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Titanium Dioxide). Source sheet 42248660 · 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: Bacon Cheese Burgers · Nearest score peer is Bacon Cheese Burgers 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 settled on its middle grade here, the band the algorithm produces when the penalty and credit sides of its nutrient ledger come out close to balanced. A mid-scale grade is a statement about the panel as a whole rather than about any single nutrient, and products arrive at it by very different routes: a moderate profile across every term, or high marks on some offset by heavy penalties on others. The grade is computed separately from the ingredient screen below and the two are not comparable measures.
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.
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. Macaroni & cheese scores 8.6 points below that category average (85/100 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
Macaroni & cheese lists 26 ingredients on its label
26 42nd percentile a longer ingredient list than 42% 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 85/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (1 flagged of 26 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Pasta (white rice flour, brown rice flour, yellow corn flour, quinoa flour, mono - and diglycerides), cheddar cheese sauce mix (maltodextrin, dry whole milk, whey, salt, cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], food starch-modified, contains 2% or less of: colors added [annatto extract, titanium dioxide], potassium chloride, soybean oil, silicon dioxide [to reduce caking], natural flavors, lactic acid powder, yeast extract, sodium phosphate).
Other products containing Organic Cheddar Cheese Sauce Mix
Organic Cheddar Cheese Sauce Mix is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 16 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Wal-Mart Stores
High-score cross-brand comparables for Macaroni & cheese
Neighbours outside Wal-Mart Stores with screening scores in the same high band as Macaroni & cheese (85/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Wal-Mart Stores; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (1 flagged of 26 on 0078742248660).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (26 on 0078742248660).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Titanium Dioxide is the first flagged ingredient selected from Macaroni & cheese's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 26-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Titanium Dioxide. Open Titanium Dioxide
- Compare Macaroni & cheese'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 0078742248660: 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.