What is a 'calibration'?
The Distell meat and fish fatmeters use a microwave sensor that, after some complex signal processing, produces a measurement of the fat content of the piece of fish or meat being analysed. This sensor value, however, is not useful to the user because the sensor is affected by a range of factors, such as the cellular structure and density of the sample. For example, the sensor response from a piece of mackerel with 10% fat is different to the sensor reading from a piece of beef with 10% fat. Or, to look at it another way, a piece of minced pork at 6% fat will give a similar sensor reading to a piece of minced chicken at 3% fat.
In order to provide accurate measurements each fat meter uses a series of calibrations. Each calibration provides a mapping between the meter's sensor response and the actual fat percentage of the sample being measured. This mapping has been derived from extensive, detailed laboratory analysis work over a number of years and we have a range of calibrations that cover many of the commercial meat and fish species and varieties that are of interest. Each mapping is also specific to each individual meter, because the behaviour of each individual sensor is slightly different to the others because of the unavoidable slight differences in the values of the components that make up the sensor.
It follows, therefore, that the meter has to be using the correct calibration for the product being measured, i.e. if a piece of tuna is being measured with the SALMON-1 calibration then the results will be wrong.
For fish there are often a range of calibrations for an individual species, and the calibrations will usually reflect either different processing methods or different sections of fish that are to be measured. For example, there are five calibrations for atlantic salmon (salmo salar). One of these, SALMON-1, is the calibration that was developed based on lab analysis of trimmed fillets of salmon, while another, SALMON-3, was developed from lab analysis of the 'Norwegian Quality Cut' section. It follows that if the meter is to be used to measure salmon according to the Norwegian standard then the SALMON-3 calibration would be used, whereas if the fat content of the whole fillet is more relevant then SALMON-1 would be used.
For meat there are often multiple calibrations per type of meat, e.g. there are five different beef calibrations that cover a range of different preparations and processes.
To help you decide which calibrations you should purchase / use, the links in the following paragraphs will guide you through the different calibrations that we offer, including how they are used and in each case what the measurement represents. You should select the calibration that most closely matches your area of interest.
Calibrations available
We have a comprehensive list of calibrations that cover most of the commercial requirements:
Using calibrations
Each fatmeter is equipped with multiple calibrations, and the price of a meter includes four calibrations of your choice. You can purchase additional calibrations along with a meter, or you can add calibrations later on.
Custom calibrations
For specialist applications it is possible to develop your own custom calibrations, and our data management software includes tools to help with this. You can download our comprehensive guide to creating custom calibrations.
Alternatively we can create a calibration specifically tailored to your requirements.
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