Sea Salt Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Sea Salt Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Angie's Boom Chicka Pop
Sea Salt Microwave Popcorn
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyPFAS in grease-resistant coating
PossibleCoating degradation and particulate ingestion
PossibleInk and adhesive leachables from printing
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 PFAS in grease-resistant coating, Coating degradation and particulate ingestion and Ink and adhesive leachables from printing on the Angie's Boom Chicka Pop and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Angie's Boom Chicka Pop.
- The Angie's Boom Chicka Pop is paper popcorn 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 Angie's Boom Chicka Pop grade, at 35% confidence against 72%, because it discloses less.
Both products run through the same public rubric, which covers 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