Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Newman's Own Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Newman's Own
Microwave Popcorn
PFAS grade
Poor 25/100
Overall grade
Bad 3/100
Verdict
Skip
Hazard flags
⚑ 2
Material
paperboard with grease-resistant coating
Confidence
45%
LikelyPFAS in grease-resistant coating
PossibleMicroplastics from degraded coating
Our pick
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 in grease-resistant coating and Microplastics from degraded coating on the Newman's Own and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Newman's Own.
- The Newman's Own is paperboard 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 Newman's Own 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