Electrical impedance spectroscopy for quality assessment of meat and fish: A review on basic principles, measurement methods, and recent advances

Authors: ZHAO, XIN - China Agricultural University; Zhuang, Hong; Yoon, Seung-Chul; DONG, YONGGUI - Tsinghua University; WANG, WEI - China Agricultural University; ZHAO, WEI - Jiangnan University

Submitted to: Journal of Food Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2017
Publication Date: 7/16/2017
Citation: Zhao, X., Zhuang, H., Yoon, S.C., Dong, Y., Wang, W., Zhao, W. 2017. Electrical impedance spectroscopy for quality assessment of meat and fish: A review on basic principles, measurement methods, and recent advances. Journal of Food Quality. Volume 2017, Article ID 6370739, 16 pgs. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6370739.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6370739

Interpretive Summary: Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a method to analyze electrical properties of materials and systems by inducing alternating electrical signals at different frequencies into them and measuring the responding signals. A function of impedance according to frequencies is correlated with physical parameters of materials or systems. In 1920s, EIS was for the first time used for biological systems. Since then, studies have demonstrated that EIS can be used for food quality prediction or assessments. The application of EIS in food quality assessments is broad, including fruits, such as dry matter content of durian and ripening of nectarine, vegetables, such as the effects of drying and freezing-thawing on eggplant, meat, such as ageing effect on beef quality, fish, such as salt and moisture contents in salmon fillets, and dairy products, such as yogurt processing. In this review, we outlined the fundamental theories and two common measurement methods of EIS in biological systems or objects. We also specifically reviewed EIS application in quality assessment of meat and fish and discussed challenges and future trends in EIS technology application in meat assessments.

Technical Abstract: Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), as an effective analytical technique for electrochemical system, has shown a wide application for food quality and safety assessment recently. Individual differences of livestock cause high variation in quality of raw meat and fish and their commercialized products. Therefore, in order to obtain the definite quality information and ensure the quality of each product, a fast and on-line detection technology is demanded to be developed to monitor product processing. EIS has advantages of being fast, nondestructive, inexpensive, and easily implemented and shows potential to develop on-line detecting instrument to replace traditional methods to realize time, cost, skilled persons saving and further quality grading. This review outlines the fundamental theories and two common measurement methods of EIS applied to biological tissue, summarizes its application specifically for quality assessment of meat and fish, and discusses challenges and future trends of EIS technology applied for meat and fish quality assessment.