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Pregnancy

Is it really so bad to eat Pate ?

63 replies

FoghornLeghorn · 19/12/2007 10:23

I have a slab of Pate in my fridge and it is just calling me - Is it really so bad ?

TBH, I haven't really gone for all of this 'don't eat this don't eat that' nonsense through my other pregnancies, I've avoided the things that are harmful to the baby not things that carry a risk of me getting ill which then has a knock on effect to the baby

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dooley1 · 19/12/2007 10:25

from netdoctor:
"The risk of harm to a pregnancy from eating pate and being exposed to Listeria is incredibly small. So although you should avoid pate during the remainder of your pregnancy, don't let the fact that you have eaten some worry you."

So you could eat it and not worry but if you are like me it wouldn't be worth it as I would worry afterwards

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Snaf · 19/12/2007 10:25

No, it's fine. A slice or two of toast and pate once in a while isn't going to do you - or the baby - any harm at all. Just don't eat a whole slab every day

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coldtits · 19/12/2007 10:26

I would eat it, I would never tell anyone else to eat it, but I would eat it,

And I cannot help thinking that 'don't eat this don't eat that' is being used as a stick to beat women with.

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JodieG1 · 19/12/2007 10:26

I avoided everything I was supposed to, after early bleeding and 5 miscarriages between children it just wasn't worth the risk or worry. My pregnancies were difficult.

I read your op as is it really so bad to eat pete, hehe.

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MuffinMclay · 19/12/2007 10:28

I've had the odd slice of toast and pate too.

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Snaf · 19/12/2007 10:28


I am so dangerously close to a full-on screaming rant about exactly this point, colditz! So fed up with women being scared witless from day one that every damn thing they do or don't do is somehow going to damage their baby.
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bogie · 19/12/2007 10:28

I thought it said eat pete as well

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EricScrooge · 19/12/2007 10:28

It's only a tiny risk. We all face the same risks daily such as crossing the bloody road.

But then, it is also incredibly easy to NOT eat pate.

It's down to personal choice.

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Kathyate6mincepies · 19/12/2007 10:29

If you're craving it then maybe there's a reason.

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preggersagain · 19/12/2007 10:30

i thought it was to do with the large ammounts of vitamin a in liver products

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dooley1 · 19/12/2007 10:31

'And I cannot help thinking that 'don't eat this don't eat that' is being used as a stick to beat women with'

hmmm... my mum ate some brie in late pregancy with me. I was born premature wiht listeria and was in scbu for 3 weeks. She couldn't come and see me as she had 3 young children to look after. My dad used to visit after work
he said he knew there and then he could never have more children as he just couldn't face going through the same thing again

No all the advice is a load of baloany

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salads · 19/12/2007 10:33

I thought you couldn't eat pate due to high vit A content from liver which can be harmful - more than the chance of listeria. Please correct me if I'm wrong I would LOVE some pate yum yum.

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Snaf · 19/12/2007 10:35


Nobody has said that, dooley.
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Snaf · 19/12/2007 10:38

The usual advice is to avoid pate because of the Vit A content. But I suppose you could look at it from a listeria p.o.v too, as it is a chilled product.

The risks are minute. But it's up to the individual.

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FoghornLeghorn · 19/12/2007 10:38

Rest assured, I most certainly do not want to eat Pete !!

Ahh am stuck now - don't know what to do - suppose I shouldn't eat it

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Snaf · 19/12/2007 10:54

Foghorn - some listeria info if you want it!

Listeriosis v. rare in UK (NHS Direct 2006) Affects approx 6-15 women per 100,000. One study looked at 65,000 women over a 10-year period and found 11 cases of listeriosis (that's 0.017%). 20% of those women suffered from late abortions or stillbirths - that's 2 women out of 65,000.

As far as Vit A is concerned, it can be toxic in large quantities, so eating large amounts of liver products is inadvisable. I would not suggest that blob of pate on toast once in a while constitutes a toxic level.

But it's up to you!

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coldtits · 19/12/2007 10:55

No, the advice is there for a reason, and I am sure it is good advice. But it is ONLY advice. It is not the law.

I do not take kindly to cafe cooks deciding that as I am pregnant I will be wanting a hard fried egg and no liver on my mixed grill. It is not up to them, it is up to me. I do not become a child simply because I am carrying one.

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crokky · 19/12/2007 10:59

The occasional accidental failure to follow the advice is quite different to just deliberately disregarding the advice (IMHO!).

Personally, I would not do it, but I have suffered complicated pregnancies and a prem birth.

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MrsGrinch · 19/12/2007 11:03

I would eat it - but that's just me. I had two of my pregnancies when you could eat whatever you wanted, copious amounts of liver, pate, soft cheese the lot.

With the third I avoided everything as per instructions but was miserable, scoffed fresh cream horns instead and got fat.

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ConnorTraceptive · 19/12/2007 11:09

I haven't been eating it but I WILL be eating over christmas. Christmas holidays without pate No NO No No No!

(incidentally I managed to eat raw pork during my last pregnancy witout realising and was fine not that I would recomend that at all!)

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coldtits · 19/12/2007 11:11

but some of the advice is being given purely to absolve the NHS of any legal responsibility, so that there is no blurring of the bounderies of 'moderation'.

In moderation, liver will NOT hurt your unborn feotus. Neither will alcohol. Neither will most things. It's entirely the mother's choice, and all the in the world doesn't take that choice from her. Just because your choice was different doesn't mean your choice was better.

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nettiehay · 19/12/2007 12:14

I completely agree with you all - I seem to be having this discussion with my DP every evening. I say eating, say, some prawns, is taking a calculated risk. I know the risks, but they are tiny, and I ensure that it is cooked thoroughly before eating it. He compares it to trying to cross the M25 at peak hour - a calculated risk, but still a stupid thing to do... this is usually the point where I leave the room or I will commit spousal abuse.

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thebecster · 19/12/2007 12:21

When I was pg with DS I couldn't face Christmas without pate. I had two slices of toast with my Mum's home-made chicken liver pate (a double whammy! Liver AND pate!). I worried about it a bit for a few days. Now DS is an active toddler - last week he climbed to the top of the climbing frame and tried to throw himself off head first, he has poured a beaker of water into an electric socket (it has a safety cover on it, but those things aren't waterproof), he has had asthma attacks which needed hospital treatment and is constantly trying to hurl himself towards traffic (thank god for reins). All that liver/pate panic seems so far away now that he's trying to kill himself every five minutes.

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dooley1 · 19/12/2007 12:41

did you eat it yet?!!
I don't know , I can only go on my own experience. My mum did eat brie in moderation - only one slice in 8 months. And it still led to a prem birth and scbu

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dooley1 · 19/12/2007 12:42

I don't get the 'I couldn't face Christmas without pate'!! what is that all about? was it turkey pate?!!

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