Non-Ionizing Radiation Processing for Rancidity Control and Storage Stability of Cereal and Legume Flours

Whole and milled cereal and legume flours, including millet, sorghum, and other climate-resilient grains and pulses, are valued for their fiber, protein, and micronutrient content, yet their shelf life is often short. Once grains are milled, native lipases and lipoxygenases act on exposed lipids and drive hydrolytic and oxidative rancidity, producing off-flavors, loss of functionality, and reduced consumer acceptance. Conventional thermal stabilization can control these enzymes but frequently degrades heat-sensitive nutrients, alters color, and changes the techno-functional behavior of the flour. Non-ionizing radiation techniques, including infrared, microwave, radiofrequency, ultraviolet, and pulsed light, offer a route to inactivate spoilage-related enzymes and extend storage stability while better preserving nutritional and functional quality. Despite growing interest, evidence remains fragmented across grain types, radiation methods, and quality endpoints, and few studies link enzyme inactivation to measured shelf-life and functional outcomes in the flour or in flour-based products.

This Research Topic focuses on non-ionizing radiation processing as a targeted strategy to control lipase- and lipoxygenase-driven rancidity and to improve the storage stability of cereal and legume flours. The methodological focus is strict: contributions must center on non-ionizing radiation techniques (infrared, microwave, radiofrequency, ultraviolet, or pulsed light). Studies must report an enzyme-stabilization or rancidity endpoint (for example lipase or lipoxygenase activity, free fatty acid development, peroxide or hexanal formation, or sensory rancidity) together with evidence of storage stability, and are strongly encouraged to characterize the resulting techno-functional properties such as solubility, water and oil binding, emulsification, foaming, pasting, and gelling. Work spanning millet, sorghum, other cereals, and legume and pulse flours is welcome, as are studies on flour-based intermediate and finished products.

To keep the collection coherent and distinct, general non-thermal processing without a rancidity or storage-stability focus, thermal-only stabilization, and studies without a measured enzyme or oxidative endpoint are outside the scope.

Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Infrared, microwave, radiofrequency, ultraviolet, or pulsed-light inactivation of lipase and lipoxygenase in cereal and legume flours

• Process optimization of non-ionizing radiation treatments to balance enzyme inactivation with nutrient and color retention

• Shelf-life and oxidative-stability studies of treated flours during storage, handling, and distribution

• Effects of non-ionizing radiation stabilization on techno-functional properties (solubility, emulsification, foaming, pasting, gelling, water and oil binding)

• Retention of bioactive compounds and reduction of off-flavor development after radiation processing

• Performance of stabilized flours in reformulated or composite flour-based products

• Mechanistic insights linking radiation dose and mode to enzyme structure, lipid oxidation pathways, and flour functionality

• Comparative evaluation of non-ionizing radiation methods across grain and pulse types

• Assessment of available equipment, commercialization level, and scale-up potential for non-ionizing radiation processing

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Non-Ionizing Radiation, Infrared Processing, Microwave Processing, Radiofrequency Processing, Ultraviolet Treatment, Pulsed Light, Lipase Inactivation, Lipoxygenase, Rancidity Control, Lipid Oxidation, Storage Stability, Shelf-Life Extension, Cereal Flour

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.