Characterization of the fat content of beef using microwave techniques

The knowledge of fat content in food materials is important for public health and legal requirements such as food labelling. Although accurate chemical analysis methods are available, there is a demand for the rapid in-line and low-cost determination of fat content in food materials to provide a responsive control mechanism and efficient quality control system in food processes. The fat content of beef has been successfully and reliably determined using the microwave measurement methods. A dielectric probe method has proven useful for determining the complex permittivity over a wide frequency range and establishing frequencies at which further detailed analysis using a waveguide cell technique could be undertaken. The waveguide cell technique has been used to show a nearly linear relationship between complex permittivity and fat content of beef and the dependence of complex permittivity on temperature is less pronounced than that of the fat content.