Movie Theater Butter Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.

Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter Microwave Popcorn

Orville Redenbacher's

Movie Theater Butter Microwave Popcorn

PFAS grade

Poor 25/100

Overall grade

Bad 0/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 3

Material

Paper bag with grease-resistant coating

Confidence

55%

LikelyGrease-barrier coating migration (fluorinated or unknown chemistry)

PossibleUnlabeled chemical additives in coating

PossibleThermal degradation of bag material at high heat

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 Grease-barrier coating migration (fluorinated or unknown chemistry), Unlabeled chemical additives in coating and Thermal degradation of bag material at high heat on the Orville Redenbacher's and not on the Quaker.
  • We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Orville Redenbacher's.
  • The Orville Redenbacher's 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.

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