Ensuring quality control and food security of nut-bearing raw materials

The purpose of research is to study the effect of microwave field energy on mold pathogens of the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus during storage of cedar nuts. Objectives: to conduct research on the disinfection of cedar nuts by electric and thermal exposure to a microwave field; establish effective regimes for the disinfection of pine nuts from storage molds. The object of the study is cedar nuts. The method for determining mold fungi was based on the sowing of cedar nuts in the nutrient medium Saburo, determining whether the isolated microorganisms belong to mold fungi by characteristic growth on the nutrient medium and by cell morphology. The experimental scheme includes 5 options, including two control ones: washing the nuts with sterile water, hereinafter referred to as the "non-disinfected" control and the standard according to the existing "roasting" technology, hereinafter referred to as the control-standard. The experiments were carried out in triplicate. Sampling and preparation of samples was carried out as follows: 1) control sample - raw cedar nuts washed with sterile water "not roasted"; 2) control-standard "roasting" - a sample of which has undergone standard heat treatment; 3) nuts processed by microwave energy at low power - 100 W; 4) processing of cedar nuts with microwave energy at an average power of 500 W; 5) processing of cedar nuts with microwave energy at a maximum power of 1000 watts. In the course of the laboratory study, it was found that the most effective way of processing the disinfection of nut raw materials is the treatment of 1000 W for 6 minutes. With this method of processing, mold fungi are completely absent.