Meat quality and lipid transformation profiling of Bactrian camel during postmortem chilled aging

The present study investigated the effects of postmortem chilled aging on the meat quality and lipid profiling in Bactrian camel. Our results showed pH values and shear force decreased gradually over the chilled aging period, while the water-holding capacity and myofibrillar fragmentation index showed an increasing significantly ( P < 0.05). With aging, L* (lightness) value increased from 36.50 to 40.80 ( P < 0. 05), while a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) values gradually decreased. The peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid reactive species content were increased from initial value, 0.023 g/100 g and 0.25 mg/kg of muscle to 0.124 g/100 g and 0.75 mg/kg of muscle ( P < 0.05), respectively , after six days of chilled storage. Chilled aging had a significant effect on the camel meat tissue structure and the intercellular space became larger on D7. There 2820 lipids were identified in D0, D3 and D7 camel meat samples, and Triacylglycerol (TG, 19.96 %) was the most abundant lipid. During aging, the concentration of lipid subclasses had undergone varying degrees of changes, and there identified several significantly expressed lipids between different aging groups. Our results can provide data support for further elucidating the functional properties of lipids in the production and processing of camel meat. • Postmortem aging altered camel meat's pH, shear force, MFI; color brightened, water-holding capacity increased. • Chilled storage significantly occurred lipid oxidation, which was manifested by an increase in PV and TRBV values. • The concentration of lipid subclasses had undergone varying degrees of changes with the extension of chilled aging time.