Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes vs Popcorn White Cheddar: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Smartfood Popcorn White Cheddar carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.
Our pick
Quaker
Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossibleMold or bacterial growth in packaging
Smartfood
Popcorn White Cheddar
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
PossiblePFAS or fluorinated compounds in grease-resistant coating
PossibleMineral oil or other non-fluorine polymer coatings (unconfirmed alternative)
Where these two actually differ
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Smartfood.
- We flag PFAS or fluorinated compounds in grease-resistant coating and Mineral oil or other non-fluorine polymer coatings (unconfirmed alternative) on the Smartfood and not on the Quaker.
- The Quaker is puffed rice cakes in paperboard packaging where the Smartfood is paperboard bag with grease-resistant interior 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 Quaker is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the Smartfood 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