Abstract: Fruit and vegetable commodities subject to infestation by quarantine pests are disinfested so as to meet quarantine restrictions without adversely affecting the quality of the commodity. The method involves heating the commodity in hot air having a relative humidity of 30-80% until the temperature of the commodity exceeds the thermal death point temperature of the target pest but is not so high as to adversely affect commodity quality. The temperature is held at this temperature until the pest is killed. The method is effective against all life stages of quarantine pests and is suitable for large-scale commercial disinfestation of commodities for movement throught marketing channels, for example, for disinfestation of papayas of tephritid fruit flies such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, the melon fly, and the oriental fruit fly.