Vegan food during pregnancy

[Terrified34]

Hello, I wonder if anyone has experience of eating vegan food during pregnancy?

I am not vegan but my boss is and we are going to have a vegan lunch on Friday. I had a look at the menu and most things are from the brand moving mountains which I don’t want what ingredients contains but looking at some things they mention on their website don’t look safe. Other things on menu contains vegan cheese or vegan mayo which I am unsure what are made of so a bit concerned about it!

I would have a salad but then again eating salad out that is not washed properly can cause toxo...

So I was wondering does anyone knows what vegan cheese is made of or vegan mayo or had vegan burgers before? Unfortunately the menu has only these burgers or salads, the only thing that made me feel “safe” is the Mac & cheese but then don’t know about the cheese.

Sorry for my panicky message but I am just 8 weeks and still working out what to eat at home, very confused about eating out.

Thanks!

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-pregnant/

If it's not on the NHS list it's fine.

You sound extremely anxious though and it might be worth mentioning it to your midwife.

As long as you don’t have a pate/spread then it will be fine.

I agree that you seem very anxious.

All that vegan shit is made out of coconut and a load of chemicals.

Are you really planning on going through your pregnancy dodging salad?!?

Vegan mayo won't have raw egg in it so it's fine. Vegan cheese is nasty shit but fine to eat when pregnant. The only thing I'd be careful about is pate. Basically, follow the Nhs guidelines.

I think you will be fine eating any of the thing you mention. You do seem to be having an extreme reaction/anxiety towards to food though. Anything you should avoid will be listed on the NHS website. If you are in the UK washed salad is fine by the way.

All the vegan stuff I’ve looked at has been really quite salty so should be well preserved!.

‘Cheese’ tends to be made from coconut which I doubt is an issue in pregnancy.

Vegan cheese can often be made from cashews too. Cashew cheese is tasty.

I was and am still vegan through my pregnancy. Most vegan burgers are either soya or vegetable based. Vegan cheese is usually coconut oil or soya based.

All completely safe and compared to a ‘normal’ place there’s nothing to avoid.

Pregnancy can be scary, especially first time, and it can feel that there are a lot of "rules" to get yiur head around. But honestly, going out for a vegan meal is not something you need to worry about.
If you look at the NHS link that has already been posted further up the thread, you will see that virtually all the foods that you need to avoid are of animal origin, so actually a vegan meal probably has less for you to think about than a non vegan one. As has already been said, the only thing you should steer clear of us pate as even vegetable pate can contain Listeria. Other than that, you should be fine, as it is no longer felt to be necessary to avoid nuts in pregnancy.
I have had a look on the Moving Mountains website. It looks good to me. Obviously these are processed meat substitutes but all the ingredients look healthy and they are certainly not packed with chemicals. What ingredients do you think are unsafe? I honestly can't see anything in any of their recipes that I would be concerned about eating whether pregnant or not. Is there a specific ingredient that you are worried about.
As has already been said, vegan cheeses and mayo are usually made from soya or coconut mainly, though some cheeses are made from nuts, particularly cashews. Again, there is nothing for you to avoid. I have to say I have never tried a vegan cheese that is very convincing (my son is dairy and egg allergic) but I haven't tried any of the nut based ones as DS is also nut allergic. So personally, I wouldn't pick a hsavily vegan cheesy meal, but that is because I don't think I would like it, not because it is in anyway unsafe.
Regarding salads, again, if you look at the NHS website you will see that it advises washing fruit, veg and salads to remove any visible dirt or soil - it doesn't have to be surgically clean. It is very unlikely that a reputable restaurant is going to serve you a salad full of dirt. Assuming you are in Britain, all food outlets are regularly inspected by the local authority and given a food hygiene rating from 0-5, 5 being the best score. All premises are legally obliged to display their rating publicly- there is usually a sticker on the door or front window - and most lical authorities publish a list on their website. Why dont you check out this restaurant's score before you go? Hopefully it will reassure you that it is a safe place for you to go.
The chances of you coming to any harm from eating the menu that you have described are absolutely tiny
You are far less likely to get food poisoning in a restaurant that doesn't handle meat, eggs or dairy produce, and the likelihood of a problem in a regular restaurant with a decent hygiene rating is very small anyway. Take sensible precautions but keep things in perspective and try to relax and enjoy things - this meal specifically and your pregnancy in general too.

Thank you all for your advice! Thank you @MAFIL for explaining and I will have a look at the food hygiene score as well. As per moving mountains I saw they use some weirdly named roots which when I googled them it said likely to be unsafe. However I still suppose it’s a small percentage of that ingredient used. Thank you again, I feel much better now!

Christ it's annoying when you try to follow guidelines in pregnancy and people say 'don't be so anxious. I ate everything and I'm fine'.

Actually my OB said only to eat salads and fruit washed and prepared at home. There's a difference between not eating salad and not eating salad you haven't prepared.

I think vegan cheese is likely ok op. You can always ask at the restaurant. Cooked food is generally fine.

I was a vegan for my first pregnancy. Baby was fine. Maybe have soup? Vegan mayo should be fine. Regular mayo is fine. It’s anything unpasteurised that may be an issue or thinks like hollandaise sauce due to raw eggs. I ate soft cheeses in my second pregnancy, just made sure they were heated to kill bacteria.

I washed all fruit, veg and salad though.

@Terrified34 is it the konjac root that worries you? I have to confess I hadn't spotted that and it isn't something I am familiar with. But from what I can find online, the issues with it seem to have been when it has been used as a weight loss supplement rather than as an ingredient in food. It is type of dietary fibre and it makes you feel full as it absorbs water in the gut. There have been reports of people taking large quantities and getting bowel obstruction but I can't imagine the amount that is going to be in a hotdog causing any major problems. Remember that the order ingredients are listed in reflects the proportions in the food, and in this instance tge kinjac root comes in lower tgan the colouring, so as you rightly say it will be a very small amount. There seem to be a lot of quite well known restaurants serving these products now, so I think it is unlikely they would serve something dangerous. The only reference to pregnancy I could find was that pregnant women shouldn't take the tablets, but then surely pregnant women shouldnt be taking any kind of weight loss supplement? I haven't found anything saying have to avoid it in foods. However, to be on the safe side you could email the company for some reassurance. Or just avoid the hot dogs . It doesn't seem to be in the burgers - the only root I saw mentioned there was beetroot which should be fine as it is a pretty mainstream vegetable and is used as a colouring in loads of foods. There's a lot of good vitamins and minerals in beetroot in fact.

jamesseee no one has said to ignore the guidelines, in fact quite the reverse.

Vegan food will be safer than non-vegan food, so not sure what you're worried about.

You are looking at a lot of vegetable/nut bases. The unwashed salad thing assumes not cooked, which is why SALAD is specifically flagged. You would expect prepared food and cooked food to be thoroughly washed.

Unless you're totally avoiding fruit, vegetables and nuts, I don't see the concern. The most high risk foods are meats, esp lamb in this country, and that is true even when cooked (not that eating cooked meat is likely to cause anything, but the small remaining risk is still significantly higher than for veg).