Green coffee decontamination by electron beam irradiation

Microbiological load of green coffee is a real problem considering that it is extremely sensitive to contamination. Irradiation is a decontamination method for a lot of foodstuffs, being a feasible, very effective and environment friendly one. Beans and ground green coffee were irradiated with electron beams up to 40 kGy. Microbial load, rheological behavior, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and visible spectroscopy were carried out. The results show that electron beam irradiation of green coffee could decontaminate it without severe changes in its properties.