Citation: Alwazeer, D.; Bulut, M.; Çelebi, Y. Hydrogen-Rich Water Can Restrict the Formation of Biogenic Amines in Red Beet Pickles. Fermentation 2022, 8, 741. https:// doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8120741 Academic Editor: M. Ahsanul Islam Received: 18 November 2022 Accepted: 9 December 2022 Published: 14 December 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). fermentation Article Hydrogen-Rich Water Can Restrict the Formation of Biogenic Amines in Red Beet Pickles Duried Alwazeer 1,2,3, * , Menek¸ se Bulut 2,3,4 and Yasemin Çelebi 5 1 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Igdir University, Igdir 76000, Turkey 2 Research Center for Redox Applications in Foods (RCRAF), Igdir University, Igdir 76000, Turkey 3 Innovative Food Technologies Development, Application and Research Center, Igdir University, Igdir 76000, Turkey 4 Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Igdir University, Igdir 76000, Turkey 5 Department of Food Processing, E¸ sme Vocational School, U¸ sak University, U¸ sak 64600, Turkey * Correspondence: alwazeerd@gmail.com Abstract: Fermented foods are considered the main sources of biogenic amines (BAs) in the hu- man diet while lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the main producers of BAs. Normal water (NW) and hydrogen-rich water (HRW) were used for preparing red beet pickles, i.e., NWP and HRWP, respec- tively. The formation of BAs, i.e., aromatic amines (tyramine, 2-phenylethylamine), heterocyclic amines (histamine, tryptamine), and aliphatic di-amines (putrescine), was analyzed in both beet slices and brine of NWPs and HRWPs throughout the fermentation stages. Significant differences in redox value (Eh7) between NWP and HRWP brine samples were noticed during the first and last fermentation stages with lower values found for HRWPs. Total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), yeast–mold, and LAB counts were higher for HRWPs than NWPs for all fermentation stages. Throughout fermentation stages, the levels of all BAs were lower in HRWPs than those of NWPs, and their levels in brines were higher than those of beets. At the end of fermentation, the levels (mg/kg) of BAs in NWPs and HRWPs were, respectively: tyramine, 72.76 and 61.74 (beet) and 113.49 and 92.67 (brine), 2-phenylethylamine, 48.00 and 40.00 (beet) and 58.01 and 50.19 (brine), histamine, 67.89 and 49.12 (beet) and 91.74 and 70.92 (brine), tryptamine, 93.14 and 77.23 (beet) and 119.00 and 93.11 (brine), putrescine, 81.11 and 63.56 (beet) and 106.75 and 85.93 (brine). Levels of BAs decreased by (%): 15.15 and 18.35 (tyramine), 16.67 and 13.44 (2-phenylethylamine), 27.65 and 22.7 (histamine), 17.09 and 21.76 (tryptamine), and 21.64 and 19.5 (putrescine) for beet and brine, respectively, when HRW was used in pickle preparation instead of NW. The results of this study suggest that the best method for limiting the formation of BAs in pickles is to use HRW in the fermentation phase then replace the fermentation medium with a new acidified and brined HRW followed by a pasteurization process. Keywords: red beet (Beta vulgaris) pickle; hydrogen-rich water; molecular hydrogen; biogenic amines; fermentation 1. Introduction Red beet is an important source of phytochemicals such as vitamins (C and B), minerals (K, Fe, P, and Mg), and pigments (betalains) [1]. The pickles of red beets are rich sources of these bioactive compounds [2]. The fermentation of vegetables in pickle preparation occurs due to the growth of natural microflora found in raw materials especially Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, and Pediococcus [3]. Biogenic amines (BAs) are low molecular weight organic nitrogenous compounds formed during decarboxylation of amino acids and transamination of aldehydes and ketones [4]. Most BAs are bioactive, such as tyramine, 2-phenylethylamine, and histamine, and exert effects on the central nervous system or at a vascular level with pathogenic effects with different degrees of intensity, ranging from headaches to death. Other amines, such as putrescine and cadaverine, alter the organoleptic properties of food [5]. Fermented foods Fermentation 2022, 8, 741. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8120741 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fermentation