Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Annie's Penne & Four Cheese ultra-processed?

Macaroni and cheese Sold in the United States

Pack of Annie's Penne & Four Cheese

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 28 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed macaroni and cheese

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

pasta (wheat flour, wheat flour), cheddar, monterey jack, and parmesan cheeses (milk, salt, enzymes), corn starch, nonfat milk, butter, whey, salt, ricotta cheese (whey, butter, nonfat milk, lactic acid, salt), whole milk, sodium phosphate, annatto (for color), onion, white pepper, silicon dioxide (for anticaking)

Additives: E270 Lactic acid

As written on the pack

organic pasta (organic wheat flour, organic whole grain wheat flour), cheddar, monterey jack, and parmesan cheeses (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, non-animal enzymes), corn starch, nonfat milk, butter, whey, salt, ricotta cheese (whey, butter, nonfat milk, lactic acid, salt), cultured whole milk, sodium phosphate, annatto extract (for color), onion powder, white pepper, silicon dioxide (for anticaking),

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
5 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 48 macaroni and cheese

From least to most processed, this one ranks 16th. 94% of the macaroni and cheese here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 48 macaroni and cheese, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0013562300167, last edited 23 May 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
  • NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.