Investigating effects of aging on radiofrequency dielectric properties of chicken meat

Effects of aging on dielectric properties of chicken meat were tracked through measurement of the dielectric properties with an open-ended coaxial probe between 200 MHz and 20 GHz at 23 °C. The chicken meat was stored in a refrigerator for 13 days at 4 oC. The changes in dielectric constant and loss factor reflected changes related to water binding, water loss and ionic activity. The dielectric constant decreased with frequency and storage duration with a slope change at about 4 GHz. The frequency dependence of the dielectric loss factor was dominated by the ionic conduction in the lower frequency range and dipolar relaxation of water above 4 GHz. The dielectric loss factor increased with storage duration for frequencies below 4 GHz and remained almost constant above that. For purpose of comparison, the effect of water loss by mechanical extraction on dielectric properties of chicken meat was investigated. The frequency dependence was found to be similar to that observed for the aging with both the dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor decreasing with the water loss at all frequencies. This will be developed further to better understand the dynamic of aging and its effect on the quality of chicken meat.