Popcorn - 40 ct vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Pirate's Booty Popcorn - 40 ct carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.

Pirate's Booty Popcorn - 40 ct

Pirate's Booty

Popcorn - 40 ct

PFAS grade

Poor 25/100

Overall grade

Bad 7/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 1

Material

grease-resistant bag liner, composition unspecified

Confidence

35%

LikelyPFAS in grease-resistant bag liner

Our pick

Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes

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 bag liner on the Pirate's Booty and not on the Quaker.
  • We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Pirate's Booty.
  • The Pirate's Booty is grease-resistant bag liner, composition unspecified 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 Pirate's Booty grade, at 35% 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