Criteria for Assessing Sugar Beet as a Raw Material for Sugar Production

Studies have been conducted to form key criteria for assessing sugar beet as a raw material for sugar production and in order to establish actual ranked values thereof. Sugar beet parameters that affect the condition of the food system for sugar production and the quality of finished products, as well as sugar beet samples of different conditions, have been studied. Key criteria have been formed by generalizing and systematizing data available in the public domain. The actual values for these criteria are determined based on the results obtained in testing 151 sugar beet samples having different conditions taken from five areas of the Central Black Earth Region (CBER) of Russia. A set of key criteria for assessing sugar beet is formed based on eight such parameters: sugar content, the content of reducing substances, ash, potassium, sodium, α-amine nitrogen, purity level, and the pH value of beet juice, each of which is informative and exerts an aftereffect. The experimental data array is systematized taking into account different conditions of sugar beet and six ranks in descending order of beet juice purity. The reference values of purity and beet juice pH, as well as sugar content, decrease towards rank 5 with respect to rank 0; an opposite pattern is observed for other parameters. The most significant increase has been observed in the content of reducing substances to amount to 18 times, the increase in the concentration of sodium and α-amine nitrogen being 2.6 and 2.3 times, respectively. Sugar beet belonging to ranks 0–3 meets the processing requirements, whereas the processing of raw materials of ranks 4–5 can be accompanied by a maximum consumption of all types of resources with a low yield and sugar quality level.