Composition and Properties of Camel Milk

Abstract

Camel is considered as one of the most important and ecologically harmless domesticated animals in the dry region of Asia and Africa. Camels have considerable economic importance not only as a draught animal, but also for their milk and its by-products. They can produce a significant amount of milk from poor feed as compared to any other dairy species. This characteristic, in addition to the growing recognition of the economic value, and health benefits of camel milk make it a center of attention for people, particularly in arid-and semi-arid areas. Moreover, camel milk is a highly nutritious medium permissive for the growth of many diverse bacterial species. These bacterial populations are mainly grouped into pathogenic, spoilage, and technologically relevant bacteria. This chapter reviews the existing knowledge on the composition, nutritional value, health-promoting properties, and economic value of camel milk and its by-products. Furthermore, the relevant studies describing the microbiota of camel milk are included.

Effect of some processing treatments on shelf life of camel milk in comparison to cow milk

“…However, under refrigerated (7°C) condition, the shelf life of raw camel milk was similar to that of pasteurized camel milk, hence, the pasteurization had little effect on the ethanol stability of raw camel milk. It was found to be effective in case of cow milk only which corroborates our findings with those of earlier workers (Emletan and Mohammad 2003) Data presented in above table revealed that refrigeration caused significantly minimum lactic acid content owing to the reason that camel milk contains a greater content of antimicrobial components such as lysozymes, lactoferrin and immunoglobulins than do bovine milk (Konnuspayeva et al 2007, Benkerroum 2008, Yoganandi et al 2014, Kaskous 2016, Kumar et al 2016, Rahmeh et al 2019, Al Nohair 2021 in comparison to storage at 25°C, whereas CoB+ and alcohol content values were found significantly higher under refrigeration of both camel and cow raw as well as pasteurized milk samples.…”

“…Camel has proved as a potential milch animal which is such an obvious solution for improving human nutrition in the arid zones of the world, where hunger is endemic. Camel milk has an important role in human nutrition as it contains all the essential nutrients (El-Agamy et al 2009, Yoganandi et al 2014, Kaskous 2016, Kumar et al 2016, Rahmeh et al 2019, Al Nohair 2021 found in bovine milk. Fresh and fermented camel milk is used as a treatment for a series of diseases such as dropsy, jaundice, tuberculosis, asthma, etc.…”

“…Fresh and fermented camel milk is used as a treatment for a series of diseases such as dropsy, jaundice, tuberculosis, asthma, etc. Recently camel milk was also reported to have other potential therapeutic properties such as anti-carcinogenic (Magjeed 2005), antidiabetic (Agrawal et al 2007, Rahmeh et al 2019, Al Nohair 2021) and anti-hypertensive (Quan et al 2008) and has been recommended for children who are allergic to bovine milk (El-Agamy et al 2009).…”

“…Free fatty acids: A rancid flavour defect in milk and fat rich dairy products is a serious problem faced by dairy industry. Implicitly of this flavour is due to the accumulation of free fatty acids, hypothetically cleaved from milk fat under catalytic influence of the lipases normally present in the milk (Rahmeh et al 2019, McSweeney et al 2020. Besides changing the natural flavour of milk, it may produce variety of other defects also like lowering of surface tension, deterioration in the quality of cream and butter milk, effective foam depression during the condensing of skim milk and whey, and reduction in fat test of composite milk sample.…”

“…Data represents SEm± of three determinations; CV, cofficient of variance; SEm±Std, error mean; P value, significance level (P=0.05) Kaskous 2016, Kumar et al 2016, Rahmeh et al 2019, Al Nohair 2021…”