Using a contains with variables in an if statement

Using a contains with variables in an if statement

I have am fairly new to jquery and was wondering what the best way to check to see if one variable contains another. My first var is a string of values. example Value1;Value2;Value3. I have tried various approaches but none have worked. 

                 

                $(".EI-Disc-Outer").each(function(i){

                                var metadata = $(this).find('.EI-Metadata').html();

                                var pageMetaTitle = ";" + pageTitle;

                               

                                if("metadata:contains(pageMetaTitle)"){

                                                $(this).find('img').addClass('EI-Disc-Opacity');

                                                $(this).find('.EI-Discipline-Item').addClass('EI-NonDiscipline');

                                }

                                //alert (pageMetaTitle);

                });


Thanks