Our study provides evidence that almond kernels can be pasteurized using IR heating followed by cooling and holding to achieve greater than 4-log reduction in Pediococcus population sizes without significantly changing the characteristics of raw product. Within the tested range of IR heating temperatures, holding at 90 C for 10–15 min reduced the Pediococcus population size by more than 5-log, whereas holding at 80 C for longer than 22 min provided more than 4-log reduction. On the contrary, almonds heated by IR and held at 70 C even for as long as 60 min did not meet the pasteurization requirement mandated by the ABC