by irradiation. Schoeller, Ingham. and Ingham (2002) discovered that the application of a 3.3 or 5.3 kGy e-beam successfully eliminates L. monocyto- genes growth on alfalfa sprouts. It has been previously suggested that the use of soft elec- trons (low energy) can ensure surface decontamination of cereals and beans (Table 2). However, the above study indi- cated the need for uniform and homogeneous irradiation of soft electrons on food surface to achieve complete decon- tamination. The greatest drawback of using soft electrons