Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Microwave Popcorn
Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyPFAS in grease-resistant coating
PossibleThermal migration from coating
PossibleCoating degradation over time
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, Thermal migration from coating and Coating degradation over time on the Microwave Popcorn and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Microwave Popcorn.
- The Microwave Popcorn 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.
- We are less certain about the Microwave Popcorn 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