Mac & cheese
Mac & cheese by Kraft has 3 tracked ingredients, with an overall safety score of 3.7 out of 5, 0.42 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products. Its Nutri-Score is C, and 1 of its ingredient carries a low safety rating.
- Safety score 0.42 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products
- NOVA processing classification: group 4
Frozen foods
How This Score Is Built
PlainIngredients safety scores are a transparent, editorially-derived index synthesizing FDA status, EU regulatory status, US state actions, and published research into a single 1-5 scale, not an official government rating. 3 of 3 ingredients tracked for Mac & cheese have a scored rating so far. Data current as of 2026-09-07.
Sourced from Open Food Facts, FDA, and EU regulatory records. Verify with the FDA → See our full scoring methodology.
Where Mac & cheese sits nationally
Average ingredient safety score vs. 58,710 other scored products in PlainIngredients
3.7 Top 87% higher than 13% of 58,710 scored products
Average ingredient safety score (1 = highest risk, 5 = safest), bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more scored products. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainIngredients ingredient safety index · 2026-09-07
- Sodium Phosphates - Safety score: 2/5
Ingredient Safety Breakdown
Processing Level
Ultra-processed products are formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives. They typically contain ingredients not commonly used in home cooking.
Full Ingredients List
Cooked enriched macaroni product (water, enriched semolina [durum wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], carrageenan), sauce (water, pasteurized process white cheddar cheese [cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), water, sodium phosphate, milkfat, salt], half and half [milk, cream], nonfat milk, whey protein concentrate, modified food starch, parmesan cheese [cultured part-skim milk, salt, enzymes], cheese flavor blend [cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), water, sodium phosphate, enzymes], salt, sodium phosphates, mustard flour, xanthan gum, spice), fully cooked applewood smoked bacon pieces (bacon [cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium nitrite], applewood smoke flavor. may contain sodium phosphate, smoke flavor, sodium erythorbate, sodium ascorbate, dextrose).
Compare beyond brand
Nationwide peers by additive safety & ingredient depth
Two PlainIngredients-derived comparison paths for Mac & cheese: nearest mean mapped additive safety score and nearest mapped ingredient count among indexable products with at least 3 scored additives, excluding same-brand siblings. Scores describe regulatory and research signals on additives, not dietary advice.
Similar mean additive safety
Nearest products by average mapped safety score. This record: 3.7/5.
Similar mapped ingredient depth
Nearest products by count of scored mapped additives. This record: 3.
Product Details
- Brand
- Kraft
- Barcode
- 0021000071791
- Nutri-Score
- Grade C
- NOVA Group
- 4 — Ultra-processed foods
- Available In
- United States
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mac & cheese above or below average on ingredient safety?
Mac & cheese scores 3.7 out of 5 for average ingredient safety, in the bottom 87% of the 58,710 products in PlainIngredients with a scored ingredient list, 0.42 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products.
How should Mac & cheese's 3.7/5 score be read?
PlainIngredients scores each ingredient 1 (highest risk) to 5 (safest) from FDA and EU regulatory status, then averages the scores of every ingredient this product lists that we could map. A 3.7/5 average places Mac & cheese in the Low Risk tier.
Every figure on PlainIngredients is rendered directly from FDA, EU, EFSA and U.S. state regulatory records, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.