Exploratory Analysis of Age-Related Changes in Beef: Bioimpedance and Chemical Composition Perspectives

Abstract

Bioimpedance-based technologies have found significant utility in categorizing various food types, such as meats, fruits, and beverages. As biological samples, such as chicken, fruits, and vegetables, lose freshness after preservation, their internal structures transform due to distinct biological reactions, resulting in alterations to their internal properties and bonds. This work aimed to study beef's electrical behavior and chemical composition to identify significant variations that occur during the aging process. The transfer impedance values of beef were measured over a frequency range of 100Hz to 100kHz, placing electrodes on the freshly excised beef samples that were frozen for a particular period. Chemical composition analysis, which is known as proximate analysis, was performed in the meantime. Consequently, any changes in the internal properties of the beef sample affect its bioimpedance. It has been seen that over time, among various compositions, the percentage of protein, ash, and moisture is reduced along with bioimpedance, and the rest of the composition, like fat and carbohydrates, is gradually increased. A relation between the bioimpedance and the chemical components of the tissue samples has been predicted. The final relation ignores the dependency of impedance over time on moisture, ash, and fat, as the value of these components changes within a very small scale over time.

Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 74(1): 69-80, 2026 (January)