Exploring Indigenous Lactic Acid Bacteria from Traditional Camel Meat Products: Antimicrobial, Safety and Bioprotective Attributes

Traditional camel meat products from the southern Moroccan Sahara may include indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with potential for biopreservation, however their antibacterial and safety properties are poorly investigated. The present work aims at isolation and characterization of LAB from fresh, fermented and dried-fermented camel meat, and identification of antibacterial strains. The total number of samples tested was 54. LAB were isolated on De Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) agar under anaerobic conditions at 30 °C for 24–48 h and characterized by Gram staining, catalase test, growth profiling and biochemical assays. Of 2,592 isolates collected, 69 (2.68%) demonstrated antibacterial activity against at least one pathogen tested by agar well diffusion against Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. Selection of six isolates with inhibition zones of 15–35 mm. The most active was Latilactobacillus sakei MC1923 with zones of 30, 35 and 30 mm against S. respectively, Enteritidis, S. aureus, and L. monocytogenes. No hemolytic or gelatinase activity were observed in the selected isolates. The isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecium and Latilactobacillus sakei based on 16S rRNA sequencing. Traditional camel meat products are promising sources of LAB with antibacterial activity. Additional genomic safety evaluation and validation in food-matrix are required before their application as protective or starter cultures.