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
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyPFAS (fluorinated greaseproofing compounds)
PossibleThermal polymer degradation and fume release
PossibleMicroplastics from bag degradation
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 (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