In vivo determination of fat content in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) with a mobile NMR spectrometer

A new method for the rapid measurement of the fat content in live (or slaughtered) Atlantic salmon, based on a mobile low‐field NMR analyser, has been developed and tested. The instrument, calibrated against a set of reference samples (fish oil in agarose), was used for non‐destructive fat determination of the Norwegian quality cut (NQC) of anaesthetized fish. The total analysis time per fish was about 20 s. The fat content (range 90–182 g kg−1) showed significant correlation (r = 0.92) with chemical extraction data obtained after slaughtering the same fish. The spatial distribution of fat in the NQC was obtained and visualized as a ‘fat image’ using novel software. It was concluded that the mobile NMR spectrometer has potential for implementation in connection with on‐line quality control. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry