TABLE 3.

Prevalence^a of the LHR^b among E. coli isolates

Source of isolate	% found inh:					Totalc
	Feces	Hide, pelt, or skin	Preintervention carcass	Final carcass	Finished product
Beef	NA	NA	NA	NA	20.5	20.5Pe
Veal	NA	NA	0.6	NA	2.2	0.6QR
Sheep	NA	0	0	0.4	NA	0.4QR
Pork	0	0	0	0	46.1g	13.45S
Totald	0Vf	0V	0.6V	0.4V	24.3Z	11.4

^aPrevalence is calculated as the percentage of E. coli isolates that screened positive.

^bPresence of at least one region of locus of heat resistance (LHR) during four-plex PCR is considered LHR positive.

^cPrevalence of LHR in meat animal types.

^dPrevalence of LHR in meat processing stages.

^eLHR prevalence among meat animal types in a column with the same subscript letter are not significantly different (P > 0.05).

^fXHR prevalences among meat processing stages in a row with the same subscript letter are not significantly different (P > 0.05).

^gXHR prevalence in finished pork product is significantly different (P < 0.0001) compared to those from other meat processing stages of pig.

^hNA, data not available due to lack of samples.