Microwave Popcorn Movie Theater Butter vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn Movie Theater Butter carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Kirkland Signature
Microwave Popcorn Movie Theater Butter
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossibleFluorochemical migration from grease-resistant coating
PossibleThermal degradation of coating at microwave temperatures
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 Fluorochemical migration from grease-resistant coating and Thermal degradation of coating at microwave temperatures on the Kirkland Signature and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Kirkland Signature.
- The Kirkland Signature is paper-based microwave 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 Kirkland Signature grade, at 45% 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