Ann. Anim. Sci., Vol. 21, No. 2 (2021) 721–730 DOI: 10.2478/aoas-2020-0070 META-ANALYSIS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI O157 PREVALENCE IN FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN IN TURKEY Serhat Al1♦, Aytaç Akçay2, Elif Çelik3, Güven Güngör3, Candan Güngör1, Harun Hızlısoy4 1Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey 2Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, 06110 Ankara, Turkey 3Department of Biometrics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey 4Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey ♦Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract The present study aims to analyze the prevalence of E. coli O157 detected in foods of animal origin by meta-analysis. The prevalence of E. coli O157 detected in the different studies was combined to provide a common prevalence estimate, and heterogeneities between studies were investigated. The study material consisted of 49 studies investigating E. coli O157 prevalence in a total of 9600 food samples, including milk and dairy products, red meat and products, poultry meat and prod- ucts, and cold appetizers between the years 1997 and 2019 in Turkey. In the meta-analysis, the Der- Simonian-Laird method was used. Meta-analyses were performed using the R 3.6.1. As a result of the meta-analysis, the common prevalence of E. coli O157 was 0.024 (0.018–0.029). As a result of the Egger’s Linear Regression Test, the study samples were found to be biased (t-value=6.092, P<0.001). To determine the source of heterogeneity between studies, sub-group and meta-regres- sion analyses were performed in milk and dairy products, red meat and products, poultry meat and products, and ready-to-eat foods (RTEs).