To eat alcohol whilst pregnant

[PickledElectricity]

I am 6 months pregnant and had the most ridiculous encounter in Paul this morning while buying my croissant and coffee.

I waddled in, excited for my Monday morning treat for coming into the office, and there was a new lady there. I ordered the almond croissant like I always do and she said "no" and something else that I couldn't make out. I thought she'd misheard me so I pointed to the croissant I wanted. She carried on. I couldn't make out what she was saying. Then her colleague stepped in to say "she says it is made with alcohol"

I had no idea this was the case but said ok that's fine.

Original lady continued to argue then someone called her into the back and I was served by her colleague who continued to give me funny looks.

Presumably the alcohol in a bloody croissant is negligible and isn't going to harm my baby, nor impede anyone. I've been having this exact croissant nearly every Monday for years, including all the way through my first pregnancy.

I feel quite cross now that my treat has been tainted by this exchange. There's a pret nearby but their almond croissants aren't as good.

Do they have a sign suggesting that ID will be required?

She sounds a bit heavy handed!

I've never heard of alcohol in an almond croissant. Presumably they add a liquer of some sort.
But that would be a tiny amount, and would have evaporated when cooked.
You're fine and she's out of line! No wonder she was taken away from the service counter!

You're pregnant so obviously it's everyone's job to police your diet 😉

I suspect the alcohol will be in the paste which goes in the oven with the croissant so as you say alcohol left after that will be negligible.

On the other hand of it was a fresh cake filled with brandy cream made with actual brandy that morning then warning you might have been helpful but it's still up to you what you eat

If you went in and ordered a glass of wine it’s nothing to do with her.

What a tit! I would complain about her ignorance! That would infuriate me!

Someone got a bit carried away at the risk management training! She’s probably terrified of getting sued/fired though.

Even if there were a significant amount of alcohol in the croissant, that’s your choice to make. As it is, there’s probably not much more alcohol than one would find in a ripe banana or alcohol free beer.

There might be alcohol in the almond essence used to make the paste. But there would be about 1/8 of a teaspoon of essence in the croissant, if that.

Next time you go in say that if you see them selling the croissants to a person who is obviously under 18 you will report them for allowing underage drinking.

This is it! If it can be served to children, the alcohol must be negligent 😭😭

What a bellend

Yanbu, congrats on the baby, keep enjoying your almond croissant ❤️

Negligent? 🤔

If there is actually alcohol going into the croissant, this presumably ought to be labelled so that people who absolutely avoid even a microlitre of alcohol will know. Maybe someone at Paul HQ could tell you?

Ignore Op it'll be fine. Maybe you miss heard? Children etc. will be eating them, they don't have alcohol in them!

It would be such a minuscule amount of alcohol that it wouldn't even register. But even if you'd bought an actual alcoholic drink it would still have been none of her bloody business. There's no law against having a drink while pregnant.

I would complain. It is not her job to police your eating.

Disgraceful. Complain.
Bloody weirdos.

I love Pret Almond croissants

Almond essence has minute traces of alcohol.

According to Pret [not Paul who don't publish any detail but have Rum in their millefeuille filling] The natural flavouring in our Almond Croissants does contain a small amount of alcohol (less than 0.01%)

She sounds a bit bonkers.

Cheeky mare! Fine to warn you, out of order to forbid you.

What if you were buying it for someone else 🥴

Your Monday routine sounds lovely, shame it got ruined by some over zealous sales person 😮‍💨

Ridiculous. Fine to let you know it's got alcohol in, just in case you give a damn. Not fine to keep going on about it.

Oh i dunno, not remotely present enough to have an impact, having been burned off during cooking, like mulled wine served to kids at Christmas

Not only must the alcohol be negligible, but even if you were ordering a glass of whiskey they can’t refuse to serve you because you’re pregnant. That would be unlawful discrimination. The decision about what to eat when you are pregnant is yours and yours alone. Even if it’s bad for you or your baby.

Patronising much? OP didn't mishear, the other colleague confirmed what the first server said i.e. it contained alcohol

If the alcohol were negligent, it would have failed to do something it should have done! The word you were looking for was negligible!

I looked it up afterwards, it is listed as an ingredient on their website. Can't say I've ever noticed it on the labels in the shop but then again I've never looked closely.

Ah. Negligible.

I agree with you.