Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Birds Eye veggie Mac & Cheese ultra-processed?

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Pack of Birds Eye veggie Mac & 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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Cooked lentil zucchini elbow pasta (lentil flour, water, zucchini), water, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, annatto color), cream, contains 2% and less of cheddar cheese (milk, salt, enzymes), corn starch, salt, whey, nonfat milk, sugar, buttermilk, xanthan gum, natural flavor, annatto (color), citric acid, paprika, turmeric, beta carotene (color)

Additives: E160a Carotene , E160ai Beta-carotene , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

Cooked lentil zucchini elbow pasta (lentil flour, water, zucchini), water, cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, annatto color), cream, contains 2% or less of cheddar cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes), corn starch, salt, whey, nonfat milk, sugar, buttermilk, xanthan gum, natural flavor, annatto extract (color), citric acid, paprika, turmeric extractives, beta carotene (color).

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.

  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
4 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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0014500031563, last edited 23 August 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.