Butter Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Act II Butter Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
ACT II
Butter Microwave Popcorn
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossibleGrease-resistant coating migration (unspecified chemical class)
PossibleThermal stability of coating under microwave conditions
ReportedIncomplete disclosure of additives in coating
Our pick
Quaker
Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossibleMold or bacterial growth in packaging
Where these two actually differ
- We flag Grease-resistant coating migration (unspecified chemical class), Thermal stability of coating under microwave conditions and Incomplete disclosure of additives in coating on the ACT II and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the ACT II.
- The ACT II is paper bag with grease-resistant coating where the Quaker is puffed rice cakes in paperboard packaging, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
- The gap is 45 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Quaker is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the ACT II 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