Cheddar Blast Puffs vs SkinnyPop & Pirate’s Booty Grab & Go Assortment Popcorn & Puffs: which is safer?

Pirate's Booty Cheddar Blast Puffs is the clear pick. SkinnyPop & Pirate’s Booty Grab & Go Assortment Popcorn & Puffs carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.

Our pick

Pirate's Booty Cheddar Blast Puffs

Pirate's Booty

Cheddar Blast Puffs

PFAS grade

Good 70/100

Overall grade

Good 58/100

Verdict

Buy

Hazard flags

⚑ 3

Material

paperboard bag with standard food-contact lining

Confidence

72%

PossiblePolymer food-contact lining leaching

PossibleMicroplastic fragmentation

PossibleMoisture barrier failure and mold/bacterial growth

SkinnyPop & Pirate’s Booty Grab & Go Assortment Popcorn & Puffs

Pirate's Booty

SkinnyPop & Pirate’s Booty Grab & Go Assortment Popcorn & Puffs

PFAS grade

Poor 25/100

Overall grade

Bad 3/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 2

Material

paper-based food packaging with grease-resistant coating

Confidence

45%

LikelyPFAS in grease-resistant coating (fluorinated film)

PossibleCoating migration under temperature stress

Where these two actually differ

  • We flag Polymer food-contact lining leaching, Microplastic fragmentation and Moisture barrier failure and mold/bacterial growth on the Pirate's Booty and not on the Pirate's Booty.
  • We flag PFAS in grease-resistant coating (fluorinated film) and Coating migration under temperature stress on the Pirate's Booty and not on the Pirate's Booty.
  • The Pirate's Booty is paperboard bag with standard food-contact lining where the Pirate's Booty is paper-based food packaging with grease-resistant coating, 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 Pirate's Booty is the one to buy.
  • We are less certain about the Pirate's Booty 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