100 Calorie Healthy Pop Butter Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Jolly Time 100 Calorie Healthy Pop Butter Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.

Jolly Time 100 Calorie Healthy Pop Butter Microwave Popcorn

Jolly Time

100 Calorie Healthy Pop Butter Microwave Popcorn

PFAS grade

Poor 25/100

Overall grade

Bad 0/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 4

Material

Paper microwave popcorn bag with grease-resistant lining

Confidence

45%

LikelyPFAS (fluorinated greaseproofing compounds)

PossibleThermal polymer degradation and fume release

PossibleMicroplastics from bag degradation

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 PFAS (fluorinated greaseproofing compounds), Thermal polymer degradation and fume release, Microplastics from bag degradation and Ink or adhesive migration from outer bag printing on the Jolly Time and not on the Quaker.
  • We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Jolly Time.
  • The Jolly Time is Paper microwave popcorn bag with grease-resistant lining 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 Jolly Time grade, at 45% 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