Kettle Corn Microwave Popcorn vs Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Pop Weaver Kettle Corn Microwave Popcorn carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Pop Weaver
Kettle Corn Microwave Popcorn
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyFluorochemical (PFAS) in grease-resistant coating
PossibleCoating migration into food (non-PFAS components)
PossibleThermal degradation of bag material
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 (PFAS) in grease-resistant coating, Coating migration into food (non-PFAS components) and Thermal degradation of bag material on the Pop Weaver and not on the Quaker.
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Pop Weaver.
- The Pop Weaver is paper-based microwave popcorn bag, likely 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 Pop Weaver 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