Received: 31 March 2025 and chemometric profiles of pestils were evaluated. The beetroot-based snack formulated

Overview

This source page is a mechanical bulk-ingest record for a PDF in the methylmercury infant-formula research pull. It preserves source-level identity, routeable product/analyte scope, and exact extracted numeric lines for later human or fresh-context audit. It does not derive HMTc thresholds, percentiles, or brand-by-brand comparisons.

Key numbers

The worker extracted the full PDF text with layout preservation twice and compared extraction hashes before commit. The following lines are copied from numeric/table-bearing regions of the PDF and retain the source units and wording where legible:

Neslihan Ersoyak 1 , Busra Acoglu Celik 1,2 , Elif Koc Alibasoglu 1 , Erturk Bekar 1,2 , Taha Turgut Unal 1,2 ,
Ersin Yetan 1 , Senem Kamiloglu 1,2 , Arzu Akpinar Bayizit 1,2 , Omer Utku Copur 1,2 , Irmak Aral Baskaya 1
1 Food Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Bursa Uludag University, Gorukle Campus,
elifkoc0894@gmail.com (E.K.A.); erturk@uludag.edu.tr (E.B.); tahaunal@uludag.edu.tr (T.T.U.);
2 Science and Technology Application and Research Center (BITUAM), Bursa Uludag University, Gorukle
develop a healthy beetroot-based pestil using traditional boiling (95 ◦ C) and novel pretreat-
Received: 31 March 2025 and chemometric profiles of pestils were evaluated. The beetroot-based snack formulated
in this study was hedonically acceptable (≥5/9) and rich in essential minerals (Ca, K, Na, P,
spectrometry. Total antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) ranged from 113.11 to 870.78 mg
Trolox® equivalent/100 g dry matter (DM). Total phenolic, flavonoid, and betalain contents
T.T.; Yetan, E.; Kamiloglu, S.; Akpinar varied between 220.6–313.8 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g DM, 365.08–517.46 mg rutin
Bayizit, A.; Copur, O.U.; Aral Baskaya, equivalent/100 g DM, and 314.40–488.66 mg/kg, respectively. Major flavonoids identified
mass spectrometry. Reducing the soluble solids content of the pestil pulp from 40 to 20 Brix
Nutritional, and Chemometric Profiles. shortened the processing time by 10–67%. This approach also reduced the HMF content
Foods 2025, 14, 1784. https://doi.org/ to the limit of quantification (LOQ). Pretreatment methods significantly (p < 0.05) affected
10.3390/foods14101784 the levels of minerals and bioactive compounds in the pestils. These findings highlight the
Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. importance of process optimization to improve overall safety and the nutritional quality of
formulations due to its rich nutritional compositions and health benefits (1,2). Red beetroot,
betalain pigments, such as betanin and vulgaxanthin I (3), with their concentrations varying
colorings (2,4–7). However, there are currently no commercially available red beetroot-
To facilitate texture softening, a short boiling step is generally applied at 95 ◦ C before
followed by a thickening (concentration) process carried out at 100–110 ◦ C until the mixture
reaches a target soluble solids content (measured by the degree Brix, ◦ Bx) (8–12). Although
current pestil standards (28–32) do not specify a target ◦ Bx value for the concentration step,
traditional practices generally aim for around 40 ◦ Bx (8,9,13–16). However, several studies
with lower concentrations, typically at 20 ◦ Bx (10,11). During the concentration process,
textural modifiers or flour (approximately 5–15 g per 100 g of dry matter) are incorporated.
alginate—are incorporated at different concentrations (8,12,17,18). Tapioca starch is another
offer better preservation of nutrients and improved processing efficiency (22). Ultrasonic
as drying and extraction (23,24). Ultrasound operates at frequencies of 20 kHz or higher,
sensory properties of the food (25–29). Studies in the literature have shown that combining
Waals interactions, ultimately leading to the loss of enzymatic activity (25,30). Microwave
(MW) processing operating at frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz is widely used
in the food industry for its rapid and efficient heating, safety, and nutrient preservation (22).
higher capital investment and technical expertise, which can limit their scalability (33,34).
vated temperatures, serving as an indicator of thermal processing in food products (8–10,12).
centration should not exceed 50 mg/kg (35–38). While heat treatment improves texture
the pestil (8–10,12). Consequently, it is essential to investigate methods to shorten the duration
a healthy beetroot-based pestil using traditional boiling (95 ◦ C) and novel pretreatment
1. Materials and Methods
2.1. Materials
conditions at 4 ± 0.5 ◦ C for one month. Tapioca starch was purchased from TMS Organik

Methods (brief)

mass spectrometry. Reducing the soluble solids content of the pestil pulp from 40 to 20 Brix
Foods 2025, 14, 1784. https://doi.org/ to the limit of quantification (LOQ). Pretreatment methods significantly (p < 0.05) affected
(depth), allowing for uniform sound wave propagation. Samples were placed in a sealed
of 2.45 GHz with a power output of 360 W. Samples were placed in a microwave-safe
borosilicate glass beaker (1000 mL). The sample was positioned centrally on the rotating
analyses. The remaining samples were ground using a mortar grinder (Retsch RM 200,
to international standards (39–42). Pestil samples cut into 2 cm × 2 cm squares were served
provided to neutralize palate between samples.
The moisture content of the pestil samples was determined using the AOAC
standard method (44). The water activity of the samples was measured directly using a
The color of the red beetroot pestil samples was analyzed using a CR-5 Konica Minolta
The determination of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in pestil samples was carried out
pestil sample, which was then vortexed. The mixture was centrifuged at 4500× g for
chromatography–photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA, Shimadzu.Co, LC-2030C 3D
To determine the mineral composition of the pestil samples, homogenized samples
were digested in a closed-system microwave digestion unit (Milestone Ethos UP, Sorisole,
method (47). The digested samples were then diluted to a final volume of 50 mL with
(ICP-MS) equipped with a Nexion 350 ICP-MS system (PerkinElmer Inc., Shelton, CT, USA).

Implications

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
3171d06	2026-08-02	major	1 section added
bc84bfc	2026-08-02	major	6 sections added; narrative text revised