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 can involve >90 days transit time. This presents a challenge for the meat industry to produce lamb with a longer shelf-life. Studies to understand the mechanisms of microbial spoilage of lamb are, therefore, important to assist the development of shelf-life extension methods. Here, we investigated the effects of glucose on the shelf-life of VP lamb. This was done by adding glucose (up to 10% w/v) to the surface of bone-in and boneless lamb and conducting a series of shelf-life trials, in which the sensorial qualities, bacterial growth, pH, microbial community and associated volatilome were measured over time. Glucose extended the shelf-life, ranging from 8% to >76% increase relative to the control. Elevated glucose also reduced meat pH, most likely due to the accumulation of organic acid end-products by glucose fermentation. Microbial community analysis revealed that glucose had a significant influence on the community composition. The most effective treatments for bone-in and boneless lamb had significantly lower numbers of Vagococcus ASVs, and all glucose concentrations had significantly lower numbers of Serratia proteamaculans on bone-in lamb. Bacterial growth kinetics calculated over storage revealed that Vagococcus ASVs 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. 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 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.