Investigation of animal fats using microwave non-destructive testing at X-band

The ability to differentiate and identify different sources of oils and fats is vital, especially in specialized food products. Adulteration of vegetable oils with the lower cost animal fats in halal foods has become a major concern to consumers. This paper describes the application of the Microwave Nondestructive Testing (MNDT) method in the range of frequency from 8 GHz to 12 GHz. The MNDT is used to investigate the S-parameters for three types of animal fats which are chicken, beef, and goat. MNDT method is used due to its non-intrusive ability toward material under testing (MUT), and high-resolution characteristic. The experimental findings demonstrate S-parameter measurements of samples represented as complex reflection coefficient and complex transmission coefficient. The finding shows that animal fat had varying reaction toward microwave frequency for the X-band range based on its fluctuation in amplitude and phase of the frequency domain response. The results indicate that X-band microwave frequencies can be used to differentiate the different type and form of animal fats which are raw, baked, and oil.