Food · Organic
Annie's Organic Macaroni & Cheese
NOVA 3 · processed food
Chemistry breakdown
Bar length = weight in the Food formula · color = that component's score · tap a name to learn what it means.
Scored from 65% of the formula's weight. The rest doesn't apply to this product.
Pesticide residue9/10 · 35% weight
Residues left on produce and grains from how the crop was farmed. Organic certification prohibits synthetic pesticides, which is why the same fruit can rate very differently by farming method.
Additivesno additives listed · 25% weight
Preservatives, colorants, emulsifiers and flavorings added in processing — each rated on its own evidence record, from benign (vitamin E as a preservative) to contested (certain synthetic dyes).
Ultra-processing (NOVA)6/10 · 20% weight
The NOVA scale classifies how industrially transformed a food is, from whole ingredients (1) to ultra-processed formulations (4). Population studies associate heavy ultra-processed diets with worse health outcomes independent of nutrients.
Oils & refined sugarsno oils or added sugars · 10% weight
Refined oils and added sugars — rated by what they are: cold-pressed fruit oils and whole sweeteners like honey rate well; hydrogenated oils and high-fructose syrups rate poorly.
Certifications9/10 · 10% weight
Independent third-party verifications (USDA Organic, FSC, EPA Safer Choice…). Informational only — having none never lowers a score; verified claims can raise it.
Ingredients · 1
In label order — the first-listed ingredient counts most in the score. Tap any row for its sources.
Made by
- 2018-08Glyphosate residues reported in oat products — EWG laboratory testing reported glyphosate in Cheerios and other oat cereals and publicised the results widely. The levels reported were BELOW the EPA tolerance for glyphosate on oats; EWG applied its own far stricter benchmark, which is a health-protective choice rather than a legal threshold. No regulator found a violation and no court made a liability finding. Recorded because the residue is real and consumers ask about it — not because a finding exists.
- 2017Artificial colours returned to Trix after removal — General Mills removed artificial colours and flavours from Trix in 2016, then reinstated a version with them in 2017 after consumer complaints about the reformulated product. This is a commercial reversal, not a safety incident, and is recorded so the 2016 reformulation is not read as a permanent commitment.