Frequency and temperature dependence of dielectric properties of chicken meat

Dielectric properties of chicken breast meat were measured with an open-ended coaxial-line probe between 200 MHz and 20 GHz at temperatures ranging from -20 °C to +25 °C. At a given temperature, the frequency dependence of the dielectric constant reveals two relaxations while those of the dielectric loss factor are dominated by ionic conduction in the lower range and a broad dipolar relaxation at higher frequencies. At a given frequency, the temperature dependence reveals a sharp increase of dielectric properties at about 0 °C which is typical of materials with high water content and indicates the transition from ice-like behavior to liquid. Both frequency and temperature behavior will be used in investigating correlations of dielectric properties with quality attributes of chicken meat.