Acid Beverage Floc from Sugar Beets

Acid beverage floc (ABF), a flocculated turbid material that can form in sugar-sweetened, acidified, carbonated beverages after several days standing, is a customer problem to bever­ age bottlers and their suppliers of sugar. ABF from beet sugar has been reported to be caused by a saponin from the beet plant, and recent work has shown the presence of several sa­ ponins in sugarbeet. ABF from cane sugar is caused when a negatively charged cane polysaccharide forms a colloidal net­ work with protein under acid conditions. Our investigations show that isolation and test procedures for saponins, as re­ ported in the literature, are actually for oleanolic acid. ABF from beet sugar is proposed to have a two factor basis: a nega­ tively charged component and a positively charged component interact at acid beverage pH, forming a coacervate and subse­ quently coagulating into a floc. The negatively charged factor can be oleanolic acid, any ofthe saponins that contain a glucu­ ronic acid moiety, or beet cell wall polysaccharide containing uronie acids. The positively charged component can be pro­ tein or peptide, with isolectric point above the beverage pH of 2.5 to 3.0. ABF can be made by adding these components to non-floccing sugars. Additional