diff --git a/.changeset/yellow-gifts-complain.md b/.changeset/yellow-gifts-complain.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f220d26c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/yellow-gifts-complain.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'astro': patch
+---
+
+Fix `import.meta.env.DEV` always being set to `true` when using Content Collections
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/content/utils.ts b/packages/astro/src/content/utils.ts
index 9017072ed..a3e7d4f99 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/content/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/content/utils.ts
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ export async function loadContentConfig({
 	settings: AstroSettings;
 }): Promise<ContentConfig | Error> {
 	const contentPaths = getContentPaths({ srcDir: settings.config.srcDir });
+	const nodeEnv = process.env.NODE_ENV;
 	const tempConfigServer: ViteDevServer = await createServer({
 		root: fileURLToPath(settings.config.root),
 		server: { middlewareMode: true, hmr: false },
@@ -206,6 +207,9 @@ export async function loadContentConfig({
 		return new NotFoundError('Failed to resolve content config.');
 	} finally {
 		await tempConfigServer.close();
+		// Reset NODE_ENV to initial value
+		// Vite's `createServer()` sets NODE_ENV to 'development'!
+		process.env.NODE_ENV = nodeEnv;
 	}
 	const config = contentConfigParser.safeParse(unparsedConfig);
 	if (config.success) {