# Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Popcorn Corn Varieties and Popcorns
## 3 Results and Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Sample**} \\ \hline
**PAH** & **1** & **2** & **3** & **4** & **5** & **6** \\ \hline Nap & 1.97 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 & 11.17 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.19 & \textless{}LOQ & 1.97 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 & \textless{}LOQ & 1.00 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 \\ Ane & 2.07 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.11 & 0.58 e \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 & 1.23 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 & 0.39 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.05 & 0.28 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.08 & 3.11 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.17 \\ Acn & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ Fln & 9.96 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.17 & 6.37 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.14 & 2.63 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 & 2.19 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.16 & 0.13 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 & 1.91 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.22 \\ Ant & 69.88 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 1.11 & 33.68 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.89 & 26.21 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.85 & 16.94 e \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.42 & 14.93 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.21 & 23.07 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.22 \\ Phen & 29.25 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.22 & 6.61 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.23 & 6.31 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.33 & 6.21 e \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.27 & 4.43 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.35 & 10.20 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.19 \\ Flt & 9.81 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.27 & 2.71 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 & 2.39 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.19 & 1.33 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 & 2.20 e \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.15 & 2.60 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 \\ BaA & 1.25 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.08 & 0.15 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.05 & - & - & - & - \\ Pyr & 6.01 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.43 & 1.64 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.17 & 1.52 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.14 & 0.88 f \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.07 & 1.18 e \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.10 & 1.39 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.09 \\ Chry & 0.56 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.04 & - & - & - & - & - \\ BbFA & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ BkFA & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ BaP & 6.58 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.77 & - & - & - & - & - \\ DBaA & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ BghiP & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ In & - & - & 7.59 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.91 & 3.21 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.11 & 5.73 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.17 & 5.96 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.43 \\ \hline \(\underline{\Gamma}\)PAH4 & 8.39 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.22 & 0.15 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.05 & - & - & - & - \\ \hline \(\underline{\Gamma}\)PAH16 & 137.34 a \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.75 & 62.91 b \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.45 & 47.88 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.88 & 33.12 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.55 & 28.88 d \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.27 & 49.24 c \({}^{\text{h}}\)\(\pm\) 0.87 \\ \hline \end{tabular} a\({}^{\text{h}}\)-\({}^{\text{h}}\) Means \(\pm\) standard deviation within rows with different superscripts are significantly different (\(p<0.05\)); - below limit of quantification.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: PAH content (ug/kg) in different popcorn varieties in year 2020.  
preparation affects the occurrence of PAHs in popcorns. Bulut, a standard hybrid, showed the lowest levels of PAH16 for both years. The highest levels of PAHs were determined in new hybrid Dh2 xOS671, for both years. The detection of PAHs in popcorn com can be attributed to environmental contamination (soil, water, and atmosphere) [30], since PAHs are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [31]. Namely, crops are known to uptake PAHs from contaminated soil. Further consumption of contaminated crops leads to PAH transfer via the food chain [32; 33; 34; 35]. The ability of maize plants to degrade PAHs is described in several papers [36; 37; 38]. As reported by [PERSON] [36], maize roots and the tops of plants can accumulate PAHs from aqueous solutions and air in proportion to exposure levels.