Skip to content

Act II popcorn with a side of buttery goo

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Eating a bag of freshly popped, buttery popcorn while watching a movie on demand or DVD is a guilty pleasure of mine. You have to be careful though about the type of popcorn you use though. I’ve tried a variety of different methods, brands, and flavors, and I’ve settled on Act II butter flavor as my favorite microwave popcorn (the plain butter flavor, not the extreme or movie theatre style—and no, I’m not worried about the deadly butter flavoring). Compared to the other popcorn out there, it seems to be about the best in ingredients and nutritional value, and it only takes 2:35 to pop. Easy.

I was a little concerned when I opened up the last two boxes of popcorn and found that the buttery goodness inside of some of the packages had leaked out into the plastic wrapper. The two 12-pack boxes were purchased at different times (December 2007 and January 2008), but from the same Wal-Mart store #3652 in West Sacramento. In each box, one of the bags was unusable—the buttery goo had spread all over the outside of the packages. Even if they were safe to eat, I’d hate to clean the microwave after that stuff melted inside it. The other bags where oozing had occurred were only slightly oily, and they tasted and smelled fine.

Could this have been a manufacturing defect? Did Wal-Mart store the product in a hot warehouse? (If it had happened in a hot Sacramento summer, I’d tend to believe that to be the problem, but this was in the middle of the chilly winter.) I don’t know. I am writing to Act II and letting them know about this incident, and I will let you know what, if anything, they say or do in response.

What about you? Have you encountered escaped buttery goo in your own packages of microwave popcorn—Act II or any other brand? Please leave your comments below.

Here are pictures of the actual bags. DISCLAIMER I’m not responsible if you (a) find the pictures gross and disgusting, or (b) start licking your monitor just thinking about all that delicious butter flavor. grin

Related Posts:

2 thoughts on “Act II popcorn with a side of buttery goo”

  1. Received an immediate automated response:

    Thank you for contacting us!

    Our Consumer Affairs Department is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time. This is an automated response to let you know that we have received your request. If your need is urgent, please contact us at 1-877-CONAGRA (877-266-2472).

    We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit our collection of recipes at: http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/recipes/inde…. You can also sign up to receive the latest information on our recipes from our brands and useful tips for your kitchen. Navigate to the link above and go to the "subscribe now" icon on the left side of the page. We appreciate your interest in ConAgra Foods.

    Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

    This is being sent from an unmonitored mailbox. Please do not reply to this email. If you have questions, please contact consumeraffairs(at)conagrafoods.(nospam)com.

    Sincerely,
    ConAgra Foods Consumer Affairs
    051864544A

  2. Only a week later, I received in the mail a nice letter from ConAgra Foods Consumer Affairs division (along with coupons for two free replacement packages of Act II Popcorn Snack Product — Right on!) Here is what it said:

    ConAgra Foods, Inc.
    Consumer Affairs
    P.O. Box 3768
    Omaha, NE 68103-0768
    1-877-CONAGRA (1-877-266-2472) http://www.conagrafoods.com

    January 31, 2008

    Dear Mr. Murray,

    Thank you for contacting us regarding our ACT II ® Butter Microwave Popcorn you purhcased. Your recent experience has caused us concern and we appreciate you taking the time to notify us.

    Product quality and the safe delivery of our products to consumers is a top priority for ConAgra Foods. This includes packaging and packaging components. We constantly review our products and their packaging so improvements, if necessary, can be made. We have forwarded your comments to our Packaging Department.

    Please accept our sincere apologies for your inconvenience. We value our consumers and hope you will give us another try.

    Sincerely,

    ConAgra Foods Consumer Affairs

    Reference Number: 051864544A
    Enclosure:
    2 Free Any ACT II Popcorn Product Coupon

Leave a Comment

%d bloggers like this: