Lipid oxidation, protein degradation, microbial and sensorial quality of camel meat as influenced by phenolic compounds

•Impact of phenolic compounds on camel meat quality was studied.•Tannic acid and catechin effectively retarded lipid oxidation and microbial load.•Tannic acid and catechin treated sample received higher sensory scores.

Impact of different natural phenolic compounds [tannic acid (TA), catechin (CT), caffeic acid (CA) and gallic acid (GA)] at a level of 200 ppm on quality retention of camel meat during 9 days of refrigerated storage was investigated. Upon addition of different natural phenolic compounds, peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as well as microbial counts were retarded, especially in samples added with tannic acid (TA) and catechin (CT) compared to control samples (p < 0.05). Camel meat treated with TA and CT also received higher likeness scores of 6.6 and 6.3, 6.23 and 5.23, 6.23 and 6.26, respectively for colour, odour and overall appearance on day 6 of storage (p < 0.05). Total haem content and redness (a*) values decreased with increasing storage period (See supplementary data). After 9 days of storage, myosin heavy chain and actin of TA and CT treated samples underwent less degradation, compared to control samples. Control samples displayed slightly lower amounts of total monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to the TA treated sample. Therefore, natural antioxidants especially TA and CT could retard lipid oxidation, microbial growth and were also effective in maintaining sensorial quality of camel meat during refrigerated storage.