Control of Pests and Quality Aspects in Cocoa Beans and Hazelnuts and Diffusion Experiments in Compressed Tobacco with Carbon Dioxide unter High Pressure

In the food processing industry, such raw argicultural products as cocoa beans, hazel nuts and tobacco require quick disinfestation prior to storage. The disinfestation method must not cause any decrease in quality or any build-up of chemical residues. Exposure to carbon dioxide under pressure of 20-40 bar for a few hours is a recently developed and effective control method for this purpose. The components and possible alterations of aroma in cocoa beans and hazelnuts were tested, as were resistance to deterioration, triglyceride composition and crystallisation behaviour. The quality of the cocoa beans had not changed following these treatments.