International Food Research Journal, vol.23, no.5, pp.2130-2137, 2016 (Scopus)
Far infrared (FIR) radiation was used for surface decontamination of peanuts at varying exposure temperatures between 150-300�C. Depending on the holding time, FIR heating resulted in complete inactivation of total mold and yeast population. 5 log reduction in total mold and yeast population was observed when surface temperature of the peanuts reached 70�C. Besides the microbial reduction and changes on quality characteristics, the effect of infrared heating on physical quality was also investigated during FIR heating process. As a result, the surface temperature was considerable in relation to both microbiological and physical quality characteristics and the measurement of the surface temperature can be suggested as an effective and rapid method to control majority of quality parameters of peanut samples during the FIR heating treatment which could also find commercial use as an effective postharvest process for nuts considering the final microbiological and physical quality.