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• SECO is the most abundant lignan in the tested products. • Fermentation and germination enrich the tested foods in lignans. • Prolonged brewing increased the lignan content of tea. This research assessed the influence of pickling, fermentation, germination, and tea brewing on lignan content of a variety of food highly consumed in Malaysia. Lignans have been measured by a validated LC-MS/MS method. Secoisolariciresinol (SECO) was the most abundant compound in fermented and germinated samples. Pickling significantly decreased larisiresinol content by approximately 86 %. Fermentation increased lignan content in a mixture of flaxseed and mung beans (799.9 ± 67.4 mg/100 g DW) compared to the unfermented counterpart (501.4 ± 134.6 mg/100 g DW), whereas the fermentation of soybeans and mung beans did not significantly affect the SECO content. Germination increased lignan content, which reached its peak on day 6 of germination for all the tested matrixes. In tea brew, lignans concentration increased with brewing time reaching its highest concentration at 10 min of brewing. The results of this study expand the knowledge on the effect of processing on lignan content in food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]