Can you eat jarred pasta sauce when pregnant

[Lox0018]

Might be a silly question but is it ok to eat pasta sauce from a jar that contains meat? I'm freaking out as I had a tomato and bacon pasta sauce for dinner last night not even thinking about it until afterwards. I have read that they are fine but still panicking. I'm an anxious person and worry about everything it's so exhausting

You’re a human and you’ve eaten human food. You’ll be fine!

Out of curiosity, in what way do you think you could have done any harm?

Yes it's absolutely fine, don't worry 😊

Why on earth do you think you shouldn't?
You are either making up threads or need to see a medical professional if your anxiety is causing you to worry about things like this.

Why would it not be ok?

Why are you worried it wouldn’t be ok? Presumably you warmed the sauce through properly? Was the button on the lid unpopped before you opened the jar?

Totally fine. Why do you think it might not be?

Yes you can. You can eat almost anything and even if you eat something that is not recommended it is still extremely unlikely to do you or your child any harm. There are so many things to worry about try not to add to them. Look at the NHS recommendations and stick to them.

Why wouldn't it be okay?

Yes it's fine. I understand the worry as I was like that with my first ( I assume it's your first) but try to relax.

Of course you can.

Whyever would you not be able to eat pasta sauce?

Assuming you're in the UK, the only things you need to take extra care regarding are those the NHS list. Bear in mind that lots of online advice will come from outside the UK - in particular from the US, where food safety standards are terrible so the advice on what to avoid is nich broader. So there's really very little you need to take care about; it's certainly not the minefield of potential hazards you're currently worrying about. Go forth and enjoy your pasta!

Certain foods should be avoided because they have high risk of causing food poisoning eg raw egg salmonella. But it is a chance only as you can eat raw egg and not get salmonella. It is not generally the food per se which is harmful rather the higher risk of some foods causing illness as higher chance they might have bacteria ....and lead to illness.
If the jar was freshly opened the chance of bactetria was zilch.

No. Stay away from it or your legs will fall off

I'm astounded that anyone buys tomato based pasta sauce....... especially someone with such extreme health anxiety!

Why on earth don't you make your own so you know exactly what's in it????

Healthier
More delicious (made to YOUR taste)
Cheaper (much)

I didn’t change my diet through any of my pregnancy’s. I everything in moderations (except alcohol and I did try to limit caffeine, except in the the form of chocolate 😂)

The advice is there to avoid food poisoning and sickness, as it can dehydrate you and that can effect baby. But if you are sensible it’s very very unlikely. When was the last time you got sick from pre-packaged cured meats for example? Or a pasta sauce? Or a supermarket cheese?

Even with cured meats, you can freeze them for 24hours before eating to kill any bacteria too, then you can eat them.

Pasta sauce is absolutely fine. Seriously though, try not to sweat the small stuff, you’ll take off the joy away from being pregnant.

Raw eggs are fine if you're in the UK and they have the Lion mark.

In the UK, you can eat raw egg in pregnancy- red lion eggs are from hens that are treated (I think, vaccinated? Or with antibiotics or something) so they can't have salmonella.

I agree with pp, stick to the NHS's short list of foods to avoid.

In my case, I even occasionally had food on that list, in tiny amounts (sips of wine, occasional sushi when I really craved it)

I was waiting for one of these types of answers to pop up 😂

I'm not sure that the existence of shop-bought pasta sauce, a completely normal product with sales over £800 million a year, really warrants four question marks worth of astonishment. Certainly the OP might decide that she would like to make her own, but it's not some sort of shocking moral lapse that she has a jar of Lloyd Grossman in the cupboard.

Persipan a jar of Lloyd Grossman. I wondered where he'd gone 🤣

In fairness, although he is not specifically named on the NHS list, the OP probably shouldn't eat him.

Honestly, just go with the NHS recommendations or you will drive yourself mad. I wouldn’t worry about anything that’s cooked/heated to begin with (apart from game meat, liver etc as per NHS recommendation)

Food bonkersness increases every day, what made you even consider this in the first place? Tomatoes, meat, the jar, what have you been eating up to now?

People. This is not the thread to be snobby about convenience foods.

It's easy to fall down an Internet rabbit hole on what you can and can't eat when pregnant. A lot of the online advice is aimed at people in countries with less food safety standards than in the UK. Assuming you are in the UK check out the NHS advice. You'll see there's very little you can't safely eat when pregnant.