Microbiome Dynamics of Camel Meat During Cold Storage Revealed by 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing

Abstract

Simple Summary Camel meat is an important food source in many regions, but little is known about how its bacterial makeup changes during refrigerated storage before reaching consumers. Understanding these bacteria matters because some types are linked to spoilage in chilled meat. This study aimed to investigate how storage time, meat cut, and butcher shop of origin each affect bacterial composition. Samples were collected from three retail butcher shops and tested fresh and again after seven days of cold storage. Using genetic sequencing, the bacteria present in each sample were identified without needing to grow them in a laboratory. After seven days of storage, the meat had fewer types of bacteria overall, and one particular group of bacteria, commonly linked to spoilage in chilled meat, became much more common. The type of cut, such as back, leg, or shoulder, made little difference in these changes, but the butcher shop the meat came from made a noticeable difference to how consistent the bacteria were within each group of samples. These findings show that storage time, more than the cut of meat, shapes bacterial changes in camel meat, offering useful baseline information for understanding bacterial changes in the camel meat supply chain.