Technical Abstract: Due to outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with whole raw almonds, an infrared (IR) pasteurization process was investigated for its efficacy in improving the safety of raw almonds. After almonds were heated to 100, 110 and 120°C with IR, they were cooled at ambient temperature to a holding temperature of 70, 80 or 90°C before being transferred to a custom-designed holding device for different time periods up to 60 min. We observed that IR pasteurization followed by holding at warm temperatures provided up to 7.5 log reductions in Pediococcus population, which was used as a surrogate for Salmonella Enteriditis PT 30. The L*a*b* color values of whole almonds were not affected significantly (P>0.05). The sensory panel did not detect any significant difference (P>0.01) in appearance, texture, flavor and overall quality of pasteurized almonds compared with untreated samples.