Joe's Diner Mac 'n Cheese — TREAT

Munch or Dump rates Joe's Diner Mac 'n Cheese by Joe's Diner TREAT — score 45/90.

Real-cheese comfort food: simple ingredients but fat- and sodium-heavy, with one modified starch doing the engineering.

Why this verdict

• Heavy on saturated fat and sodium for the calories
• Three real cheeses plus butter and cream stack the fat
• Modified rice starch is the one engineered thickener
• Refined enriched-semolina pasta, low fiber
• Indulgent comfort food, fine occasionally, not an everyday meal

Ingredients (10)

• Cooked elbow macaroni (enriched semolina) (moderate) — Refined durum wheat pasta, enriched with B vitamins and iron but low in fiber; the carb base of the dish.
• Milk (safe) — Whole dairy milk, a real recognizable ingredient adding protein and calcium.
• CHEDDAR CHEESE (moderate) — Real aged cheese, good protein and calcium but high in saturated fat and salt.
• Imported gouda cheese (moderate) — Real cheese colored only with carotene; flavorful but adds saturated fat and sodium.
• Imported swiss cheese (moderate) — Real part-skim cheese, decent protein but still a fat and salt source.
• UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (moderate) — Refined flour used to thicken the sauce; low fiber, raises the carb load.
• Butter (cream, salt, annatto) (moderate) — Real butter colored with annatto; pure saturated fat that piles onto the cheese.
• Modified rice starch (moderate) — Chemically processed starch used as a stabilizer to keep the sauce smooth; the main reason this rates as ultra-processed.
• Salt (moderate) — Added sodium for flavour.
• Spices (safe) — Seasoning blend; negligible quantity, no concern.