Worried about listeria

[Anxiousfirsttimer]

I’m 25 weeks with my first baby and I’ve been anxious throughout, specifically in relation to food. Last night I had chicken for dinner, which was cooked throughly as per the instructions, but by the time it was served it had cooled. Now I’m worried about listeria - it could have only been out of the oven for 15 minutes before it was served. I’ve spoken to 111 who just told me to be mindful of any symptoms, which I don’t currently have. Should I be concerned?

No, you don’t need to be concerned about eating chicken that had cooled.

No. You should not be concerned.

The only way it got listeria on it within 15 minutes after the oven (it was cooked properly in the oven, right?) is if you contaminated it with something else. Germs don't spontaneously regenerate.

AFter out of oven, Did it get contaminated by something else that was high risk for having listeria on it?

Thank you, SproutMuncher and YeOldeTrout.

It was throughly cooked in the oven and hot - and no chance of it being contaminated by anything else.

Cold chicken is perfectly fine to eat, you do realise that? It needs to have been safety stored, of course, but sitting on a plate for 15 minutes is not an issue.

There is absolutely no need to be concerned. There are lots of infections that uncooked chicken can put you at risk for (salmonella and campylobacter, specifically), but listeria isn’t one of them. You get listeria from dodgy raw cheese and contaminated produce. Surely most people eat chicken that is left briefly to cool to room temp. As long as it was cooked first, it poses no risk of infection (I work in public health).

Don't need to worry about cooled chicken but you do need to take care of your own health, physical and mental and if you are constantly feeling stressed about these things it could be worth mentioning to your midwife or maybe even gp. Pre natal anxiety and depression is very common and your hormones can go a little bit loopy, no harm in reaching out for reassurance and help

Cold/cooled chicken is fine to eat . You need to try and eat as normally as you can without stressing about every bite

Thank you all for your reassurance I'm seeing my midwife later this week, so I'll make sure to mention to her about how anxious I'm feeling about food.