Popco blue silicone microwave popcorn popper: 17 ppm Cadmium (safe by all standards).

Here’s an Amazon affiliate link so you can see this product “in the wild”
There’s even a video there that shows the product in action.
https://amzn.to/3oKWI5Q

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Published: February 11, 2022 – Friday

Popcorn is definitely included in our family’s version of The Food Pyramid. I expect we eat more popcorn than the average family…initially as a low-income “emergency survival tool” (kids still hungry? nothing left in the fridge? pop up some popcorn to fill their bellies!)…and then later for nostalgia’s sake — and we watch a lot of movies & of course popcorn always makes the best movie snack (especially for a family that tries to be mostly-vegan, mostly sugar-free, and mostly wheat-free!) 

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We chose this product to buy and test for a few reasons:

• Our last microwave popcorn popper candidate was waaay too small & inefficient — requiring many “cycles” to make enough popcorn to fill up the jumbo-size serving bowl we use for our hungry-giant kids!!
• The price was right [$11.89!]
• Ease of use and ease of cleaning is a huge factor!
• We chose to purchase the product in blue (it comes in a full range of colors including pink, purple, and red), thinking – based on a my considerable consumer goods testing experience – that a light blue color would be the least likely to test positive for Cadmium (and with the plan being that, if the product turned out to be Cadmium-free, we could maybe try buying one for each child in a different color!)

That said we are now still searching for “the perfect popcorn popper”…because this one did test positive for (trace) Cadmium (12 to 19 ppm) – and while a level that low is “safe by all standards” (and we have tried using it a handful of times, and it really works great), for our family (purely on principle), we prefer that something we use on a regular basis to prepare food for our children be 100% free of toxic heavy metals. After all, while most of the silicone products I test typically have consistently tested positive for trace levels of Cadmium, I have tested several products that consistently test completely negative for this heavy metal carcinogen — so we know it’s possible to manufacture 100% Cadmium-free silicone products! [Actually, the idea of creating the “perfect” (efficient, and easy to use and clean, AND 100% toxicants-free) popcorn maker has long been at the very top of the list for future Lead Safe Mama-branded product ideas!]

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Below are the full XRF test results for the blue silicone popcorn popper pictured:

Reading #1) Blue part of popcorn popper (silicone)
120-second test

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): 17 +/- 2 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Zinc (Zn): 348 +/- 11 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 2,729 +/- 353 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 507 +/- 8 ppm
• Indium (In): 15 +/- 2 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 13 +/- 3 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #2) White logo area of popcorn popper
120-second test

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): 16 +/- 2 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Zinc (Zn): 287 +/- 8 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 17,900 +/- 400 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 469 +/- 6 ppm
• Indium (In): 15 +/- 2 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 17 +/- 2 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 9 +/- 3 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #3) Clear / white silicone lid of popcorn popper
120-second test

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): 13 +/- 1 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Zinc (Zn): 290 +/- 8 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 372 +/- 6 ppm
• Indium (In): 12 +/- 2 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 10 +/- 2 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC affiliate link we may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you!

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a Federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. Tamara’s sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in August of 2005. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. Tamara uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals), including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony and Arsenic. All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.