*3.4. PEF and Thermal Treatment*

The effect of the thermal process, the pulsed electric field, and the combination of both treatments on the reduction of AFT and AFB1 were studied. Following the optimization of both treatment modalities, mycotoxins were affected by the thermal process time at alkaline pH, the thermal process temperature at neutral, and acid pH values when this process was implemented individually. The highest reduction rates were obtained after treatment at 110.36 ◦C for 15 min at pH 10, reaching 96.696% and 95.473% for AFB1 and AFT, respectively. On the other hand, PEF treatment was also optimized, and the highest reduction rates were achieved at a pulse width of 65 μs and output voltage of 26%. It seems that the combination of both treatments did not achieve a great improvement in the reduction rates of AFT and AFB1. As compared with the optimal thermal treatment implemented alone, this combination increased the reduction rates by 0.185% for AFB1 and 0.248% for AFT [126].
