Quality evaluation of fresh camel meat dipped in edible citric acid

This study investigates the impact of dipping in food-grade citric acid on the shelf-life extension of fresh camel meat stored at refrigeration temperature. Fresh camel meat slices were treated with citric acid at concentrations of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%. The samples were then drip-dried packed into the vinyl acetate packs (VAP) and stored in a refrigerator at 5°C for 15 days. The parameters studied included pH, water activity, Hunter color values, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values, and total plate count (TPC). The pH of the treated samples decreased in comparison with the initial value of 5.30 (untreated sample) to a range within 4.20–4.47. The treated samples showed lower water activity values (0.95–0.99) than the control samples (0.97–0.987), especially the samples treated with 1.5% citric acid (0.95). The water activity (aw) values did not significantly differ among the treated samples. The control sample had an initial a* (a* — redness as per the colour chart) value of 16.4. Dipping the samples in citric acid significantly reduced the a* values to a range of 7.3 to 11.6. The red colour values in the control sample decreased during its storage to a range of 12.8 to 14.3. On the first day of treatment, the control sample exhibited a TBARS value of 0.26 mg/kg MA, which was significantly higher than that of the treated samples. The samples dipped in a 1.00% acid solution demonstrated the lowest TBARS values at 0.12 mg/kg MA. The TBARS values levels for the samples treated with 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.00% citric acid were generally low, peaking at 0.23 to 0.29 mg of malondialdehyde/kg after 15 days. The control sample exhibited a total plate count (TPC) of 5.3 CFU/g, with no significant difference observed between the control sample and the sample treated with 0.5% citric acid. No microorganisms were detected on the first day in camel meat samples treated with citric acid at concentrations of 1.0% and 1.5%. At the end of the storage period, the TPC levels in acid-treated samples remained below 107 CFU/g on days 5th, 10th, and 15th. The shelf life of the treated camel meat was extended to 15 days.