*2.1. Sugar Beet Molasses Preparation*

The sugar beet molasses was collected from a local sugar refinery located in Coaticook (Québec, Canada) and stored at 4 ◦C until further use. The sugar beet crops were cultivated and harvested by the same company before being processed to produce sugar. The fresh molasses was initially characterised for pH, density as well as for sugars and other metabolites concentrations (see Table 1).


