Camel milk is a nutritionally valuable dairy system with a distinctive mineral protein colloidal organization but remains highly perishable and sensitive to physicochemical changes during processing. This study evaluated the effects of controlled ultrasonic treatment on the microbiological stability, colloidal structure, and techno-functional properties of Moroccan camel milk. Ultrasonic processing induced strong, time-dependent microbial inactivation, achieving an approximately 2-log reduction after 5 min and complete bacterial inactivation after 15 min, without significantly altering the overall physicochemical properties. At the colloidal scale, ultrasound reduced particle size and turbidity and modified zeta potential, indicating enhanced dispersion and structural reorganization. Protein secondary structure analysis revealed a decrease in α-helix content accompanied by an increase in random coil structures, suggesting partial protein unfolding driven by cavitation-induced shear forces. Minor changes in mineral distribution, protein, and lactose contents reflected physical rearrangements rather than chemical degradation. Notably, despite these structural modifications, the emulsifying capacity remained unchanged, demonstrating preservation of techno-functional performance. These findings provide experimental evidence that ultrasonic acoustic cavitation can effectively inactivate microorganisms in camel milk while predominantly inducing sonophysical effects, thereby advancing the understanding of cavitation-driven structure-function relationships in camel milk and supporting its processing as a non-thermal, structure-preserving dairy system.

Spray drying of milk is typically analyzed through coupled heat and mass transfer phenomena. In dairy systems, however, these transport processes are inseparable from the colloidal organization of ...

Micronutrient deficiencies continue to affect more than two billion people worldwide and remain one of the most persistent forms of malnutrition, compromising physiological development, immune comp...

Camel milk supports food security, nutrition and rural economies across arid regions, while its commercial development is expanding towards refrigerated products, fermented foods, powders and functional ingredients. This transition exposes a preservation problem that differs from that of conventional dairy chains. Variable conditions before processing determine the initial microbial and enzymatic load, whereas the distinctive organisation of camel-milk proteins, minerals and dispersed phases alters treatment delivery, physical stability and quality retention. This critical narrative review integrates matrix knowledge with direct evidence on established and emerging preservation processes. Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, CAB Abstracts and Google Scholar were searched for relevant studies available up to August 2026. The evidence reveals no simple hierarchy of preservation technologies. Cooling, controlled fermentation, pasteurisation and drying remain the practical foundation of camel-milk processing, but their performance is bounded by raw-milk history and by matrix responses that include aggregation, weak gel formation, oxidation and loss of powder stability. These constraints have stimulated interest in lower-temperature and non-thermal approaches that may widen the interval between microbial control and unacceptable product modification. High-pressure processing currently offers the most developed pathogen-specific evidence within this group, while the reported performance of UV-C and ultrasound remains closely tied to reactor geometry, energy distribution and temperature history. Other emerging approaches are supported mainly by physicochemical observations or evidence transferred from non-camel matrices. Across all process classes, nominal equipment settings and immediate reductions in background microbiota provide an incomplete account of preservation performance. Reliable interpretation requires the treatment delivered within the product to be considered together with matrix composition, microbial target, quality boundaries and behaviour after processing. Camel-milk preservation should therefore be approached as a matrix-dependent process-design problem rather than as the selection of an individual technology.