Camel was originally domesticated for milk to fulfill the nutritional requirements of the people living in the desert ecosystems. Among many cultures, the camel is a very important animal and highly valued asset, therefore only sick or unproductive camels are sold and slaughtered. The camel as a source of meat is rarely studied and investigated.
Though I’m a camel lover and strongly advocate camel milk globally
I have my own opinion about the salient features of a meat type of camel. Camel meat is as special as their milk because of many reasons. Camel meat is a potential alternative to red meat for human consumption worldwide. Camel meat is nutritionally as good as any conventional meat source, in fact has an edge over beef or lamb due to its low intramuscular fat, low cholesterol content, and high iron content.
Camel meat contains 76–78% moisture, 19% protein, 2.9–3% fat, and 1.2% ash with a dressing percentage of about 55–70% and is thus considered a good source of nutrients. Camel meat is much better than beef in that it has lesser fat than all the other red meats such as beef and mutton. The major fatty acids in camel meat are palmitic (26·0%), oleic (18·9%), and linoleic (12·1%), with smaller amounts of other fatty acids. Among them, Linoleic Acid is essential, and can’t be synthesized in the body.
I hereby share some photographs of a camel that I consider to be fulfilling the purposes of a meat type of camel.
