Listeria monocytogenes in Dairy Products of the Middle East Region: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression Study

Moein  Bashiry; Fardin  Javanmardi; Musarreza  Taslikh; Zhaleh  Sheidaei; Ehsan  Sadeghi; Abdol-Samad  Abedi; Adel Mirza  Alizadeh; Fataneh  Hashempour-Baltork; Samira  Beikzadeh; Seyed Mohammad  Riahi; Hedayat  Hosseini; Amin Mousavi Khaneghah

doi:10.18502/ijph.v51i2.8682

Moein Bashiry Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Nutrition Science and Food Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
Fardin Javanmardi Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Musarreza Taslikh Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Zhaleh Sheidaei Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Ehsan Sadeghi Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Nutrition Science and Food Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
Abdol-Samad Abedi Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Adel Mirza Alizadeh Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Fataneh Hashempour-Baltork Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Samira Beikzadeh Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Mohammad Riahi Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, School of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Hedayat Hosseini Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences & Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Amin Mousavi Khaneghah Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Rua Monteiro Lobato, São Paulo, Brazil

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v51i2.8682

Keywords: Listeria monocytogenes; Dairy products; Middle East; Systematic review; Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: The contamination of food products by Listeria monocytogenes as a pathogen bacterium, threatening public health and raised a global concern for a long time. Dairy and meat products and ready-to-eat foods are recognized as the most common carriers for L. monocytogenes.

Methods: The related reports of the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in dairy products in Middle East countries from 2009 to 2020 were screened through some of the international databases such as Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. While a random effect model was applied to estimate pooled or overall prevalence, 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were used.

Results: Results showed severe heterogeneity (84.2%) in studies and estimated the overall prevalence of L. monocytogenes dairy food products from the Middle East region of 3.5% (CI: 2.2-5). The highest and lowest prevalence was associated with Jordan (17.6% CI: 9.8-26.9) and Iraq (1.6% CI: 0.3-3.7), respectively. Based on the type of product, the highest and lowest prevalence of L. monocytogenes was recognized for raw cow milk (5.8% CI: 2.7-9.7) and pasteurized cow milk (1.1% CI: 0-8), respectively.

Conclusion: There is no justification for severe heterogeneity (I²) of subgroups as prevalence is heterogenic innately, but Jordan and row cow milk subgroups were found to have a considerable effect on overall pooled prevalence. Thus, they were the reason for prevalence changes.