I also have heard stories about concerns re beet pulp and for the record I know that beet pulp itself is a plant product with properties well-documented on this list and as such would not pose a problem.

However, in my own mind I do consider the fact that beet pulp is a product of a manufacturing process and most manufacturing processes of which I am aware use chemicals in one form or another for various purposes.

From what I’ve been able to learn re the sugar beet manufacturing process, the beets are separated into the raw juice solution and raw cossettes (which eventually become the beet pulp) in the diffusion step. In the diffusion step “Sulfur dioxide, chlorine, ammonium bisulfite, or commercial FDA-approved biocides are used as disinfectants.” The raw juice is then purified via numerous processing steps including washing steps, filtration, centrifugation, etc. as well as an ultimate crystallization step where I believe these added chemicals might be removed or greatly reduced in concentration.

The raw cossettes are simply pressed to remove some of the moisture and then dried and sold as beet pulp for animal feed. Now I don’t believe any of the additives are really problematic except perhaps the biocides of which I have no information. And I know that there cannot be any inherent problem with either the process or the product or we would not have so many animals thriving while eating beet pulp

I guess my point is, that depending on the specifics of the particular manufacturing plant, there might be a possibility of manufacturing aids ending up in the beet pulp and like anything else there might be some horses who are particularly sensitive to those chemicals. I haven’t seen any protocols mentioned where the beet pulp is cleaned or washed in any way after the diffusion step but I am certainly no expert on this subject and others of you out there may have better information.

And the fact of the matter is that sometimes mistakes are made or shortcuts are used in a manufacturing process of any kind and I have not seen that the beet pulp product has specifications for testing levels of biocides or other potential manufacturing contaminants so the average consumer would have no way of knowing if there were a problem. The same article said that formalin (a 40% solution of formaldehyde) used to be added to the diffuser water but isn’t anymore. Perhaps at some point in the past there was some excess formalin contamination that caused problems and this is the source of the residual concern people have.

Just some food for thought re the subject.

P.S. The source of my information is a detailed document with flow charts from the U.S. EPA in their manual for compilation of air pollutant emission factors known as AP 42. I figured this source would not have much conflict-of-interest or “spin” regarding the steps of the manufacturing process itself. It can be found online in Chpt. 9, the food and agriculture section, under sugar beet processing.