Effect of essential oils and vacuum packaging on spoilage-causing microorganisms of marinated camel meat during storage

The use of essential oils (EOs) and/or vacuum packaging (VP) with meats could increase product shelf-life. However, no studies investigating the effect of EOs and VP on camel meat back-ground microbiota have been conducted previously. The study aimed to analyze the antimicrobial effect of essential oils (EOs) carvacrol (CA), cinnamaldehyde (CI), and thymol (TH) at 1 or 2% plus vacuum packaging (VP) on the growth of spoilage-causing microorganisms in marinated camel meat chunks during storage at 4 and 10^◦C. VP is an effective means to control spoilage in unmarinated camel meat (CM) and marinated camel meat (MCM) compared to aerobic packaging (AP). However, after EO addition to MCM, maximum decreases in spoilage-causing microorganisms were observed under AP on day 7. Increasing the temperature from 4 to 10^◦C under AP increased the rate of spoilage-causing bacterial growth in CM and MCM; however, EOs were more effective at 10^◦C. At 10^◦C the maximum reductions in total mesophilic plate counts, yeast and molds, mesophilic lactic Acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonas spp. were 1.2, 1.4, 2.1, 3.1, and 4.8 log CFU/g, respectively. Incorporating EOs at 2% in MCM, held aerobically under temperature abuse conditions, delayed spoilage.