Pectin - high molecular weight polysaccharides, which are part of the cell wall and intercellular plant creation. The fruits and root crops contain the largest amount of pectin. Pectin is obtained from beets, apples, sunflowers.
It is the beet pectin that is part of the fibers, its physical and chemical properties (low degree of esterification with a large number of free carboxyl groups) is the best natural adsorbent-complexing agent in relation to heavy metals, radionuclides, residual pesticides. By this indicator beet pectin is absolutely rightly attributed to the essential substances in the production of food products for prophylactic purposes.
Pectin is used in the food industry as a gelling agent, thickener; in the pharmaceutical industry as part of the structural part of the drugs.
Edible vegetable fiber is the general name of the substance of the polysaccharides of the cell walls of plants. An important property of food fiber is its high sorption capacity.
Despite the large number and cheapness of the input raw material - the by-product of beet-sugar production - beet pulp, pectin forming complexes, pectin and food vegetable fiber are currently not produced in the eastern part of Europe.
In Europe, there are companies that produce such products, but their technology has a significant chemical component, which critically raises the end product. This circumstance constrains the production of food pectin and fiber, and as a consequence the release of prophylactic biologically active additives and functional products on their basis. As a gelling agent in the domestic food industry, expensive andportable high-purified pectin from apple mash is practically useless for use as a biologically active additive and components of medical and prophylactic drugs.
The population's demand for food fibers is only about 2.5 million tons a year. At that, it is satisfied only by 30-35% due to the flour of coarse grinding, grain, vegetables, fruits (the physiological daily rate of consumption of food beet fiber in 2005 is increased from 20 to 30 grams).
Also, it is important to use beetroot fibers in the manufacture of bakery, meat, dairy and other food products.
The proposed technology of industrial production of pectin is characterized by:
-the ability to save as much as possible raw materials for further processing (after 2-4 hours of storage, depending on the atmospheric temperature, pectin pulp is converted to protopectin, not suitable for processing).
- the purity of the final product;
- Relative simplicity, low cost, compared with the technologies used until now;
- Minimum capital investments - equipment used for general purpose may be used;
- unpretentiousness to a raw product - beet pulp is used after its processing at a sugar factory;
- the possibility of processing, drying of additional raw materials, after processing of the main: milk, soy milk, after-alcoholic bards, beer pellets, yeast ...
| 
