The present study investigated inhibition of multiple food related pathogens in raw and pasteurised camel milk during fermentation with four novel Lactococcus lactis strains. All pathogens alone in camel milk reached 8.0 log(CFU mL -1 ). When the pathogens were cultivated with L. lactis MS22333 or MS22337 they were reduced between 0.9-6.0 log(CFU mL -1 ). L. lactis MS22314 and MS22336 showed no antimicrobial activity.Bad hygiene and lack of cooling facilities have resulted in spontaneously fermented African camel milk with high incidence of contaminants. Starter cultures promote food safety by controlling the fermentation. Commercial cultures developed for bovine milk acidify poorly in camel milk and cultures optimized for camel milk with inhibitory effects against pathogens are therefore needed.To our knowledge, we have for the first time demonstrated that some L. lactis strains isolated from camel milk can inhibit the growth of food related pathogens in both raw and pasteurised camel milk.

The genome sequences of four Lactococcus lactis strains isolated from fermented camel milk were sequenced using paired-end Illumina MiSeq reads. The genome size of each strain was about 2.6 Mb, and three of the strains were annotated with tet(S) coding for tetracycline resistance.