Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes vs Popcorn: which is safer?
Quaker Butter Popcorn Rice Cakes is the clear pick. Wise Popcorn 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
Wise
Popcorn
PFAS grade
Overall grade
Verdict
Hazard flags
Material
Confidence
LikelyGrease-resistant coating migration (likely PFAS-based, assessed separately)
PossibleInk and adhesive leachables
PossibleMicroplastics from coating degradation
Where these two actually differ
- We flag Mold or bacterial growth in packaging on the Quaker and not on the Wise.
- We flag Grease-resistant coating migration (likely PFAS-based, assessed separately), Ink and adhesive leachables, Microplastics from coating degradation and Mold and moisture if storage is poor on the Wise and not on the Quaker.
- The Quaker is puffed rice cakes in paperboard packaging where the Wise is Paperboard 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 Quaker is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the Wise grade, at 35% 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