Vacuum-packed (VP) lamb produced in Australia has a shelf-life of 80 – 90 days under export conditions (-1 to 0°C). However, access to some markets requires >90 days due to poor storage conditions during transit and the need to allow time to sell product. Studies to understand the mechanisms of microbial spoilage of VP lamb are, therefore, important to assist the development of shelf-life extension methods. Previous research[1] has established that glucose plays an important role in microbial spoilage of VP lamb. Specifically, meat with elevated glucose (0.5% - 10% w/v surface application) increased the shelf-life of VP lamb (based on sensory assessment) by up to 76% increase relative to the control, with the 5% solution consistently being the most effective. The shelf-life extension of glucose-treated meat was accompanied by a pH reduction which was likely due to an increase in organic acid end-products from glucose fermentation by lactic acid bacteria. To take this further, we investigated the effects of elevated glucose on the microbial community (16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) and the accumulation of spoilage metabolites of VP bone-in and boneless lamb over storage at 4°C. The microbial community analysis revealed that elevated glucose had a significant influence on the community composition when compared to the control. The most effective treatments for bone-in (1% and 5%) and boneless (5%) lamb had significantly lower numbers of Vagococcus spp., and all glucose concentrations had significantly lower numbers of Serratia proteamaculans on bone-in lamb. Bacterial growth kinetics calculated over storage revealed that Vagococcus spp. had a faster growth rate, lower maximum population densities and in some cases a longer lag in the 5% glucose treatment compared to the control in both trials. Similarly, S. proteamaculans had an extended lag and a lower maximum population density in the 5% glucose treatment compared to the control. Elevated glucose likely alters the microbial community composition by shifting substrate utilisation and the accumulation of acidic end-products, having an overall impact on the formation rate of spoilage metabolic by-products. However, there was no detectable difference in the composition of volatile compounds between glucose treatments and the control. Further studies are required to investigate the effects of glucose on microbial substrate utilisation and manifestation of non-volatile metabolites.