1.4 SUCCSSFUL STORAGE AND QUALITY

Successful storage is ultimately defined by the maintenance of quality of the product. Quality standards of the sugar beet crop are defined in relation to processing. This includes primarily a high sucrose concentration and low content of invert sugars (glucose and fructose), polysaccharides of microbial origin (including dextran), and of soluble non-sugars (α-amino nitrogen, sodium, potassium) in the processable sugar beet material. Quality also includes the maintenance of the quantity of processable material in a delivered sample. Non-processable material is anything that is not healthy sugar beet root material. This includes soil and stones, non-root plant material, root material that will wash away, the water in these components, or root material that is known to interrupt the extraction process such as roots that have thawed after being frozen. When this non-processable material is captured in the sample of a delivered load of sugar beet roots, it is referred to as dirt-tare. Finally, resistance to cutting is a quality trait of importance in processing (Dutton & Huijbregts, 2006; Vukov, 1977). The term storability is used in the description of successful storage, with good and poor storability relating to the situation of relatively lower and higher loss of quality during storage, respectively.