Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. Sugar refineries cannot modernize the current processing technology and increase their capacity in proportion to the increasing harvest of raw beets. This entails an increase in the processing time. Sugar beets are not subject to long-term storage, and when they are stored in inappropriate conditions, root crops rot, resulting in sugar loss. The aim of this study is to increase the safety of beets during long-term storage before processing and to develop a device for its implementation which will lead to an improvement in the biological value of sugar beet root crops and an increase in the efficiency of technological processes.

Materials and methods. The experiment used sugar beets from the Koksu sugar plant and was carried out by treating sugar beets with an ion-ozone mixture to increase their shelf life. The treatment was carried out in an ion-ozone installation. Physicochemical and microbiological analyses were carried out using several methods: chemical extraction, potentiometry and photocolorimetry.

Results. The results of the study showed that when sugar beets were treated with ozone at a concentration of 0.5 g/m³ and 2 g/m³, the acidity decreased to 0.6 degrees, and the sugar content increased by 2.3% and 3.3%, respectively. When sugar beets were processed with an ozone concentration of 2 g/m³ and a molecular ion concentration of 1,000,000 units/cm³, a decrease in moisture was observed to 69%, the acidity decreased 2 times and the sugar content increased by 3%. When the beets were processed with an ozone concentration of 2 g/m³ and a molecular ion concentration of 1,000,000 units/cm³, a decrease in acidity was observed to 0.65–0.67 degrees, and the sugar content increased by 2–2.5%. Also, in all the above optimal processing conditions, a decrease in yeast growth was observed.

Conclusions. As a result of the study, the following three optimal conditions were established for the processing of sugar beet root crops before storage: an ozone concentration of 0.5 g/m³ and 2 g/m³; an ozone concentration of 5 mg/m³ and molecular ions of 500,000 units/cm3; an ozone concentration of 2 g/m³ and molecular ions of 1,000,000 units/cm³.