Proximate, amino acid, fatty acid and mineral composition of raw and cooked camel (Camelus dromedarius) meat

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of the paper is to study the effects of cooking on proximate composition, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and total, heme and non-heme iron content of camel meat. Design/methodology/approach -A total of ten longissimus thoracis muscles (500 grams) were collected between the tenth and twelfth ribs of the left side. Samples were randomly collected from two to three year old camel carcasses chilled (1-38C) for 48 hours then stored at 2 208C. The first portion was kept fresh while the second one was placed in plastic bags and cooked by immersion in a water bath at 708C for 90 minutes. Both samples were freeze-dried, and then ground to a homogeneous mass to be used for chemical analyses. Findings -Cooked samples had significantly (p , 0:05) higher dry matter by 27.7 per cent, protein by 31.1 per cent and fat by 22.2 per cent, but lower ash content by 8.3 per cent than the raw ones. Cooking had no significant effect on amino acid and fatty acid composition of the meat. The components of camel meat most significantly affected by cooking were macro-and micro-minerals, which ranged between 13.1 and 52.5 per cent, respectively. Cooking resulted in a significant decrease in total, heme and non-heme iron contents by 4.3, 8.7 and 4.0 per cent, respectively. Research limitations/implications -The research is restricted to camel meat but it is an exploratory study. The issue of research outcome as only longissimus thoracic muscle is another limitation. Further investigation is needed to include different muscles, temperatures, durations and cooking methods. Practical implications -Amino acids and fatty acids of camel meat are not affected by cooking, while heating accelerated total and heme iron oxidation suggest camel meat to be a rich source of heme iron. Originality/value -The paper is original in its findings and useful for both researchers and academics in the field of meat science.

Effect of age on concentrations of nutrients in four muscles of the Sudanese dromedary (Camelus dromedaries) camel

“…The most abundant essential amino acid in camel muscles was lysine (7.84-8.98 g/100 g protein), followed by leucine (6.59-8.11 g/100 g protein), phenylalanine (4.73-6.88 g/100 g protein), isoleucine (5.01-5.97 g/100 g protein), threonine (4.75-5.01 g/100 g protein) and methionine (3.03-3.88 g/100 g protein). Similar values of amino acid compositions in dromedary camel muscles were reported by Kadim et al (2011). The Sudanese camel muscle has a comparable essential amino acid content to dromedary camels, beef, lamb and goat muscles ).…”

“…Elgasim and Alkanhal (1992) found a low alanine content in dromedary camel meat compared with other red meats. However, the present study and other studies (Dawood & Alkanhal 1995;Al-Shabib & Abu-Tarboush 2004;Kadim et al 2011) did not find low concentrations of alanine in dromedary camel meats relative to other red meats.…”

“…The predominant monounsaturated fatty acid was oleic acid (C18:1n9c), resembling 70.81% of the total intramuscular monounsaturated fatty acids. The proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids in the current study is slightly lower than the proportions reported by Rawdah et al (1994); Al-Bachier and Zeinou (2009) and Kadim et al (2011Kadim et al ( , 2013 for the dromedary camel meat. The highest values of monounsaturated fatty acids were found in the SM muscle (73.34%) and the LT muscle (72.91%) and the lowest in the ST muscle (68.08%).…”

“…The current study showed that age and muscles type had no significant effect on total saturated, mono-and polyunsaturated fat, and individual fatty acids. In contrast to reports in dromedary camels (Rawdah et al 1994;Al-Bachir & Zeinou 2009;Kadim et al 2011Kadim et al , 2013, the predominant fatty acids in Sudanese dromedary camel muscles were unsaturated fatty acids with an average value 50.78% (50.0-51.6%) of total methyl esters. The highest values for unsaturated fatty acid were found in the LT (51.35%) and the lowest was in the SM (50.6%) muscles.…”

Effect of slaughter season on postmortem metabolic characteristics of muscle in the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)

“…This meat is regarded as good quality product (Kadim et al, 2011; especially with high protein value (Raiymbeck et al, 2015). Furthermore, the meat demand at world level increased in the human population in relationship to the growing demography and poverty alleviation.…”