Shells & Cheese
by Quality Pasta Company
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0856587004159 · Quality Pasta Company · Meals. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Shells & Cheese by Quality Pasta Company scores 100/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 38 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 0 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 38-component record, beginning with Enriched Pasta, Durum Flour, 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.
- 100/100
- Safe safety score
- 0
- None flagged · of 38 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
58/100
Grade C
Ingredient Safety
100/100
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.
87004159 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Shells & Cheese label screening desk
12 of 38 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Potassium Chloride). Source sheet 87004159 · 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: Deluxe macaroni & cheese · Nearest score peer is Deluxe macaroni & 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.
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
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. Shells & Cheese scores 6.4 points above that category average (100/100 vs. 93.6/100), so it is a comparatively strong pick for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Meals products
Shells & Cheese lists 38 ingredients on its label
38 68th percentile a longer ingredient list than 68% 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
Full Ingredient List
Enriched pasta (durum flour (wheat), salt, monoglycerides, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid), cheese sauce (water, cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), soy and/or canola oil, whey (milk), non-fat dry milk, maltodextrin, sodium phosphate, salt, natural flavors, natural color (beta carotene, paprika extract), lactic acid, sodium alginate, mono and diglycerides, xanthan gum), modified tapioca starch, contains 2% or less of: corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, salt, acetylated mono and diglycerides, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, guar gum, silicon dioxide to reduce caking.
Other products containing Acetylated Mono And Diglycerides
Acetylated Mono And Diglycerides is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 17 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
High-score cross-brand comparables for Shells & Cheese
Neighbours outside Quality Pasta Company with screening scores in the same high band as Shells & Cheese (100/100 here). No other Quality Pasta Company products are linked from this barcode; these peers compare across brands only.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (100/100 here, no caution flags on the parsed list).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (38 on 0856587004159).
Read the longer label in layers
Read the longer label in layers
Shells & Cheese has a longer ingredient list than 68% of its Meals category comparison set. Use the ingredient table before relying on its single screening score.
- Open Potassium Chloride first, then work through the remaining 38 parsed entries. Inspect ingredients
- Compare this longer label with a cross-brand product of similar list depth. Compare label depth
- Use the methodology to separate a derived screening score from dietary or medical advice. Read the boundary
This page describes published ingredient-list and source coverage. It is not dietary or medical advice.
Barcode 0856587004159: 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.