Market vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is our pick: better on PFAS and on the overall hazard picture.

365 by Whole Foods Market

365 by Whole Foods

Market

PFAS grade

Good 70/100

Overall grade

Good 56/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 2

Material

various, food packaging typically paperboard, plastic film

Confidence

35%

PossibleMicroplastics generation or migration

ReportedAllergen cross-contamination in recycled paperboard

Our pick

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes

Quaker

Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes

PFAS grade

Good 70/100

Overall grade

Good 66/100

Verdict

Buy

Hazard flags

⚑ 1

Material

puffed rice cakes in paperboard packaging

Confidence

72%

PossibleMold or bacterial growth in packaging

Where these two actually differ

  • We flag Microplastics generation or migration and Allergen cross-contamination in recycled paperboard on the 365 by Whole Foods and not on the Quaker.
  • We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the 365 by Whole Foods.
  • The 365 by Whole Foods is various, food packaging typically paperboard, plastic film where the Quaker is puffed rice cakes in paperboard packaging, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
  • These two are level, close enough that price and fit should decide it rather than our grade.
  • We are less certain about the 365 by Whole Foods grade, at 35% confidence against 72%, because it discloses less.

Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →

More microwave popcorn: see the full ranking